Fighting Chance
by BellaMorgan1
Summary: Lydia and Raj's return add pressure to Alec's life but it's a new employee on Alec's team causing problems and Alec's lack of action that has unforeseen consequences to his personal life. PART III of Chances Series.
1. Return of Old Friends

**Chapter 1 – Return of Old Friends**

"Believe it or not, I'm not here for the kid and it is a little cold out here." Lydia tried again.

Alec stepped back from the door, "Come in." He gave Magnus a look of panic but still allowed Lydia in his home. "You're looking well." She was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a tight top that Alec was sure was meant for teens. Her blonde hair was thrown back in a high ponytail but her eyes; they were definitely Max's eyes and it scared him a little bit that she was there.

"Raj and I moved home. I thought you should hear it from me since we used to run in the same circle."

"Lydia, I have children now. The circles I run in include toddlers and play dates. No one from our old circle would be there." Alec didn't sit down but Lydia removed her jacket and took a seat on the couch, uninvited to do so. She came in like she owned the place and he felt the urge to throw her out.

Magnus was standing there silently, watching the scene play out. He felt Alec's shoulders straighten and tense; it pained him to see him that way.

"Look is your son here?" She thought it would be best to get straight to the point.

Alec frowned, her tone and manner of speaking about Max was grating on his nerves. "No."

"Good. I don't want to see him and I think it would be better to talk to you without him around."

"What?" It was Magnus who spoke up then, she shocked him and he couldn't understand her.

Lydia sighed, "Listen, I have no need or want for a child; in fact, Raj and I have gone through great medical lengths never to have children. We are perfectly happy in our marriage to just be us forever." She got a little loud in her speech but she was done caring. She put on the act of holding up her left hand to show off her diamond and wedding band.

"He's your blood," Magnus spoke again; he really had no idea how to understand her.

"I don't care. I put Alec on the birth certificate because he's a good boy and would do the right thing or even if it didn't then the child would have gone into the system. Either way, he was not mine to handle. Besides, it was better for the baby this way."

"The police could have tracked you down and charged you with child abandonment." Magnus put up another fight.

Alec put his hand on Magnus' arm; it wasn't worth fighting with her. The contact had a relaxing effect on both of them; the simple touch was enough to calm them both down.

"Instead, Alec did what Raj and I knew he would do and filed for termination. I have no legal claim to the child and that works out perfectly for me. Neither of our families even knew about him and that works for us." Lydia sighed, "Alec was the good boy we knew him to be."

The doorbell rang at that point and Alec busied himself with getting their pizza. His night was ruined anyway, he was no longer hungry, and his bed looked like a better option now. The guy made a little bit of small talk and Alec tried to be nice but it wasn't working. Lydia had ruined his mood and the night. Calling him a good boy made him sound like a dog. They had planned Max's abandonment because they felt he was a loyal dog. His insides burned and he wanted to throw up.

"His name is Max. Stop calling him 'child' or 'kid'. At least use his goddamn name." Magnus wasn't letting up since Alec wasn't going to speak up.

"I'm leaving now. I came to tell you we will be back in town for a while and that's what I've done. We are at Raj's parents. They still live up there. Raj wants to stop by at some point to see you but I wanted to tell you first. We will be around town in case you see us." Lydia stood up, pointing in the general direction of the mile road or what he thought was the general direction she needed to point. She grabbed her jacket, "Goodbye, Alec." She didn't sneer or frown but her voice held the venom for a sneer. "And whoever you are."

Alec sat the pizza down on the coffee table and went straight to the first-floor bathroom, he hadn't eaten in over six hours but that didn't matter. He threw up the contents of his stomach, mainly the acid lining and water from lack of food. He went down to the floor and just sat there; he sensed Magnus in the doorway but he didn't look up. He couldn't. He stared blankly ahead with a knot forming again. Alec reached forward in time to lose his stomach once more; there was nothing to empty this time and his throat ached from the dry heaves.

"Alec," Magnus knelt down to rub his back but Alec pulled away.

He stood up and flushed. "I need to brush my teeth." He went around Magnus and practically ran for their bathroom upstairs.

Magnus sighed and went into the living room to do his best to wait out Alec but finally, he gave up, turned off the TV. He packed up their dinner and drinks and headed for their room. He was too hungry to wait any longer and he knew Alec would need food or he would pass out on him. He put a towel from the hall closet on the bed and laid out the pizza, so it was waiting for them when Alec came out of the bathroom.

Alec smirked at him, "You and your precious pizza."

"You need to eat before we both pass out."

"You're going to make me talk, aren't you?" Alec took the outstretched beer and took a sip before Magnus zoomed in to take it from him and held out the other beer to them. Alec couldn't hold in his small laughter then, it was the normal for Magnus always stole his beer after the first sip and he always made him take a drink on all his beers. It was only beer and Alec didn't understand, Magnus never explained just made him do it. So, Alec always did; just to please him.

"Not if you don't want to, but yes, I think you should. I can see the panic in your face and you keep throwing up. I think it will be healthy for you to talk, but I won't force you." Magnus took his seat on the bed, digging into the pizza. He wanted to wait for Alec but he couldn't. He was going to die without food; he had to eat, or he was going to be the one to pass out.

"My worst fear is that Lydia and Raj will take Max away, I've already told you that. Having her on our doorstep instantly brought that fear to life." Alec took his seat on the bed, his body shutting down in defeat.

"I know but as sad and confused Lydia makes me, she did say she's not here for Max."

"Do we trust her?"

"Normally I would say no." Magnus put his crust down; he had a weird way of eating pizza. He always ate the slice and left the crust for the very end since it was his favorite part of the pizza. "But she has proven herself to be completely transparent on her not wanting anything to do with Max."

"She couldn't say his name, either she didn't know it or didn't care." Alec had a faraway look on his. He felt the burn in his stomach again, it was raising higher. "She likened me to a loyal dog." He had to take a deep breath to keep the burn from spilling over.

"Alexander," Magnus set his next half-eaten slice down; he went down on his knees in front of the bed to be able to get Alec to look at him. "You are a loyal, good person but those aren't bad traits. They are some of the reasons why I love you. You also treat our children the same; they are both your children. That's another reason why I love you. You are beautiful on the inside and out. I wouldn't have you any other way. You are not a dog; you are the best person I know."

"I'm a good boy who would do the right thing. Do I always do the right thing?" Alec felt the tears then, he loved Max and wouldn't change his decision to bring him home. Never had he thought Lydia and Raj actually sat down and came up with this plan from the beginning? He always thought it was a spur of the moment decision that came about in the heat of the moment. No, that wasn't the case. They planned this; they sat back and intended to abandon their child with him.

"Yes, you do, but there is nothing wrong with that. That is a good thing."

"They planned this Magnus. The first few years of Max's life was hard. I came close to failing. I lost my sister for years. And they planned this." Alec stood up, forcing Magnus to stand up with them. "Then they just stroll back into town without even knowing his name!"

"Alec, you need to calm down, you are going to make yourself sick again." Magnus held his hands out to get Alec to stop moving but he slipped by without allowing Magnus to touch him.

"Who does that? Raj has been my best friend for years. How was Raj this type of person and I never knew it? How could he do this to me?"

"Some people are just better at hiding their evil side than others." Magnus knew his words weren't having an impact on Alec. He wasn't even listening to him; his words were floating around the room. Alec needed to work this out, but Magnus couldn't let him get worked up. He needed food and sleep. They both did.

"It's worked it's self out but what if it hadn't. What if-"

"Stop!" Magnus reached out and pulled Alec to a stop in front of him. Alec was going too fast, he was going to make himself sick again and Magnus needed him to just stop moving for a minute. "Stop thinking about the 'what if's'. They are endless and you will never find an answer to any of them. You need to calm down. Just breathe with me." Magnus pulled Alec a step closer and kiss him. He pulled back but kept his lips in their shared space, "Breath with me." He whispered; getting Alec to follow his rhythm. "Good, that's good." He touched his lips to Alec's to talk against their mouths.

"I'm panicking."

"I know, and I'm here to tell you it's going to be okay. I'm here with you every step of the way."

They were each whispering in the darkenroom now, there was a light on but not the main light; it was hard for Magnus to go above the whisper. Their lips were still glued together.

"I need you to eat for me. It's been a long day of hard work with little to no food."

Alec brought his hands up to wrap around Magnus' waist, flattening them on the small of his back. He pulled back to lean his head on Magnus' shoulder; resting it in the curve of his neck. "I'm still panicking." It was like the nervous energy had let him along with the air in his lungs.

Magnus rubbing his hands up and down Alec's arms, soothing him the best way he knew how, "You are allowed to panic, this situation is unique to you. It's okay to have a fear of the unknown. But know this, you are an amazing human being. I love you more deeply than any other soul and I continue to fall deeper in love with you every day. Lydia and Raj say they want nothing to do with Max and only time will tell but I have faith in us being strong. We can handle anything life throws at us including those two idiots." Magnus knew when his words hit home to Alec, his breathing changed.

"This was not what I had planned for us this evening. I wanted to spend tonight with you on the couch then in bed." Alec kept his head buried in the comfort of Magnus.

"Oh, we're going to. I'm not letting this night go away from us. It's just going to be about comfort instead of celebration at moving in together." Alec sighed, and his stomach growled. That was his cue to pull back; Magnus had a huge grin on his face. "Finally, pizza time."

...

Magnus tugged on Alec's arm to get him to focus on him. They had long since finished their pizza and in the middle of an intense make-out session when Jace called to report about the day's events with the boys. Mainly the boys had a fight over who Clary loved more and that was the highlight but Jace wouldn't shut up. Alec had the phone on the speaker function so Magnus could be part of the conversation as well. This did not help since Alec was laying on his stomach on their bed with his pillow tucked under his chest to prop himself up with the phone in front of him. Magnus was edging his way closer to him when he tugged on his arm for attention. When that didn't work, Magnus moved to half laying on him by putting a knee between Alec's open legs and laying down. Alec was very much in control and didn't make a sound while Clary joined the conversation on their end of the speakerphone.

Magnus tried a new tactic of moving to be straddling Alec's legs; if Magnus laid down, albeit they were still fully dressed, his cock would be perfectly pressed up against Alec's ass. They were perfectly aligned. He didn't lay down though. Instead he got down on his hands and knees to pepper soundless kisses on the back of Alec's neck and the side of his face when Alec gave in and laid his head to the side.

Magnus was careful to be soundless except for adding a word here or there to keep his side of the conversation going. Finally, he went back to up to his knees and began working on moving Alec's shirt up a little bit and his sweats down just a touch, so he got the top of Alec's butt available to him. Magnus began making lazy movements across Alec's lower back and ass with a single finger, earning himself a sound of surprise which was quickly covered since Jace took that moment to go into the detailed story of the small human fight over Clary and how cute they were. It was hard to be mad at a small child when they got a little huffy and red then giggled at their own attempts to be mad.

Magnus moved off center replacing his right hand for his left hand on Alec's back to continue his movements, he stuck his index finger in his mouth to suck on it for a moment, he had plans for Alec and he was going to get himself in trouble. Magnus continued to soundlessly suck on his own finger to get it wet while Jace spoke with Clary adding her own word here or there. Magnus waited for Clary to say something, his left hand getting lower and lower so Alec wouldn't notice a thing. Once Clary started in, Magnus took his opportunity and brought his right hand into Alec's pants to stick his wet finger in Alec's hole. Shoving it in slightly had Alec grasp in surprise and twist to stare at Magnus as best he could. Magnus held up his left hand to point at the phone then place it over his lips with a smirk, and moved his right finger deeper. Out then back in at a slow agonizing pace. Magnus was rewarded when Alec rolled his eyes in the back of his head.

Alec finally got the hint and told Jace and Clary they needed to go and would talk later. He didn't wait for a reply before hanging up and tossing his phone to the floor.

"What the hell, Magnus?"

He only laughed and removed his finger, "Surprise!" He winked and rolled over to his nightstand to pull out their lube and a condom.

"Yeah, I got that."

"Then get this." Magnus tossed him the lube while shoving his sweats down just far enough to get the condom on his shaft, "I'm going to fuck you now."

"Always the gentlemen," Alec smirked, removing his shirt and tossing it across the room then pulling his already lowered sweats and boxers to be thrown with the shirt somewhere in the room.

Alec leaned over to touch Magnus while he wrestled with his own shirt. He kept his pants on and pulled Alec to him in a kiss. The kiss was hot and demanding, full of tongue and pressure. Alec pulled back first, holding up the bottle of lube to shake slightly in Magnus' face. "You'll be needing this."

"Yes, definitely." Magnus leaned back in the center of the bed, applying a generous amount to himself and his hands. "I want you on me."

Alec came over, straddling Magnus, and using the wall to steady himself on his knees. Magnus returned to his ass play with Alec, enticing a moan and thrown back head as he continued his movements from before with two fingers instead of one. Magnus could sense that Alec was ready but he asked him anyway, with his nod of approval Magnus guided Alec down and straight onto his rigid cock, hissing at the full feeling when Alec was sitting on his legs and Magnus was buried deep.

Alec kept his hands on the wall behind them and went in for a kiss, rotating his hips just enough to get them moving, swallowing Magnus' moan. Magnus had one hand on Alec's hip and the other on his chest, but he wanted him to move.

"Alexander, I need you to fuck me, or I'm going to roll you over and do it myself." Magnus was always proud of their ability to have sex and banter at the same time. It was a turn on for him to egg each other on towards the end. Magnus used both his hands on Alec's waist to get the movement started but Alec stayed in place.

"I like soft and steady."

"I like making it so you can't walk the next day. Move your ass, Alexander."

Alec laughed and finally gave in to what Magnus had been craving all evening. He moved up and down, moaning as he went. The feeling of being completely full, then almost empty, then full. The pace was steady but Magnus couldn't take it anymore and with a surprise twist had Alec on his back while still buried deep. "Too slow?" Alec questioned with a smirk; he was rewarded by Magnus going for his neck to bite him and move his hips at the same time.

Magnus went full fast pace fucking at the moment; he was ready to reach his end game and prove to Alec he had no reason to panic because he was here with him.

Alec sensed Magnus wasn't going to last long and grunted with each full thrust, taking himself in his own hand and worked his shaft to get him closer to the edge. Neither was going to last very long at this point with the day's events and the emotion mixed into the fast pace. Alec grunt deep and Magnus knew they were close. He kissed Alec, forcing him deep into the mattress at the feeling of his climax spill on their stomachs. Magnus pulled back going straight on the bed. He pulled out and removed the condom to add his own release to mix with Alec's on his stomach. He couldn't stay on his knees and went down, laying over Alec and becoming sticky with their individual releases combining on their hard-pressed stomachs. They were both slicked with sweat and red from the heat consuming the room.

"Jesus," Alec wrapped an arm around Magnus' shoulder to keep him across him. Magnus was breathing deep against Alec's throat, tickling his skin. "Magnus, thank you."

"You did not just thank me for fucking you." Magnus moved to be able to look at him.

Alec smirked, "No, I thanked you for being perfect. You always take good care of me. Today had a stressful end and you took it in stride and helped me through it without pause." He tightened his arms around Magnus. "I mean I guess thanks for the quick fuck as well." He was giddy at the response Magnus gave of deep laughter.

They weren't usually one to use terms fuck or make love, it was usually always just sex, they knew they loved each other and it was beyond sex but it was also a turn on for Magnus at least, when Alec would go out of his way to use a term which wasn't normal. Stepping out of his comfort zone and being Alec at the same time was enough for Magnus to fall in love time and time again.

"Let's move this party to the shower and you can thank me in a different way with a little less slicked out with sweat." Magnus got up on his knees with a little effort since his limbs still felt like jelly.

Alec licked his lips and laid back to watch Magnus. He was definitely in favor of their new living situation, he could know do whatever he wanted with his fiancée, any time he wanted.


	2. Underhill

**Chapter 2 - Underhill**

Alec was sitting in Tessa's office waiting for her. She called him into a meeting but got behind and told him to wait for her. He knew what this was about; they finally hired two fresh faces; one for Quinn and one for the missing member of his team. He had a team of four; him, his two worker bees, and the vacant sub-account manager; which would be his second in command. The position had been vacant for over a year and he was started to get overworked with sharing half of Quinn's work. It had only been a couple weeks but when your job is creating training for those accounts, it can bog you down. He only took time off two weeks ago to move Magnus in, which was a great help since he started working later and some hours on Saturday to make up for lack of staff. Part of Quinn's team was reporting to him as well but it wasn't enough and they needed the position filled. Will was going to be training the new team lead, Jem. Jem was taking Quinn's spot along with the accounts and the staff. By next Monday the accounts would be back to normal with hopefully regular business hours for him.

He missed his family.

"Alec, thanks for waiting." Tessa came in with a bright face, "This is Clark Underhill, but he likes being called Underhill. He will be your new sub-account manager." She went around to sit at her desk, directing Underhill to sit next to Alec. "He will be joining your rotation tomorrow."

Alec smiled at the new employee and stuck out his hand for a shake, "Welcome."

"Thanks," Underhill smiled at him. He looked into Alec's eyes and instantly got lost, he had never seen blue eyes that clear before. He released Alec's hand, "I'm excited."

"Good." Alec smiled at Tessa.

"He's got paperwork to finish. Can you take him and show him where to go. Maybe show him his desk when he's done, so he knows where to go tomorrow." Tessa had all but dismissed them; Alec got the hint and stood up, nodding to her.

He pointed at the door, "Let's head to HR first. They are on this floor." Alec led the way down the short hallway to the HR room. It was a glass area, which was locked every night. Only his boss' level and higher had after-hours access. Alec was in the HR/Operations chain of command but on the client development side. He loved his job, creating training to better the needs of any company that hired them was a fulfillment he couldn't explain. "HR is here." Alec pointed to the glass doors. "Once you're done with all your paperwork, have Gina call me and I'll come get you. Our office area is on the third floor."

"Perfect, thank you, Alec." Underhill smiled at him again and went into the glass door, and straight to the admin's desk who was a young woman, Gina.

Alec frowned on his way back up to his desk, he couldn't place it but something seemed off with Underhill's smiles.

...

Magnus barely had his door closed before he threw his binder and pen across his office. Mr. Wells stopped Magnus from closing the door entirely and came into his office, finally getting the door closed after he entered.

"Magnus," Mr. Wells sat at the chair in front of his desk while Magnus paced around the small office. "You need to relax."

"This is bullshit and you know it." He picked up the binder to toss it on his desk just for it to slide across his desk and off the other side in front of Mr. Wells' feet.

He reached down to pick up the binder, setting in on Magnus' desk out of his reach, "You and I both know that binder hasn't done anything to you."

"You have to know this is bullshit." Magnus sat down, "This case was taken out from underneath me and it should be mine."

"Listen, I do agree that this isn't fair but it's already in process, changing the lawyer around now is not going to do anyone any good when there's nothing wrong with either lawyer."

"Valentine is an ass and this shit needs to stop. He's on my team and he should just listen to me." Magnus sighed, leaning all the way back in his chair. "He won't listen to me. I want him off my team."

Wells frowned, "I can't do that. He's only on his second strike; rules are rules, Magnus."

Magnus tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling; he was stressed out at work and at home. Alec had been working more extended hours than him and weekends, so the everyday household duties were falling to Magnus. "Alright."

Wells stood up, "Come see me at the end of the day."

Magnus nodded but his phone was ringing, his fiancée was calling him; if Alec told him again he was going to be late, Magnus was going to move out and take both kids with him. "Hello."

" _Since when do you say 'hello'?"_

"Since I answer my phone." Magnus closed his eyes; he wasn't being nice.

" _Bad day?"_

"Yes, what's up?"

" _I got some news but if you aren't having a good day we can talk at home?"_

Magnus sighed, Alec sounded happy which meant it was good news but the question hung in the air. He could use some good news but what if it was terrible. "Good news or bad?"

" _Good. Well starting Monday, good. We found a replacement for Quinn and the vacant spot on my team has been filled; we are back to full staff."_

"Oh, Alec. I miss you."

" _We see each other every day."_

He heard the laugh in Alec's voice, he stirred something in his chest; creating a wonderful warming sensation. He was feeling better already. "It's not the same if you are working even at home." Magnus felt better. He wanted to spend time with Alec without him on his work phone, sending emails or talking to clients. "Monday?"

" _Underhill, that's his name. He's my person and he started today, well tomorrow officially, but Quinn's replacement will be on Monday. We are meeting then to reestablish workloads."_

Magnus could hear the smile in Alec's voice; he knew Alec wasn't handling it any easier than he was at the moment. "Are you in your office?" He waited for Alec's quick yes, "With your door closed." Another quick yes, "Lock it."

" _What?"_

"You heard me." Magnus got up to lock his door, he had never tried this before but he was going to do it with Alec on the other end. "Lock your door and have a seat behind your desk." He heard the door click and Alec moving around.

" _What next? Unzip my pants?"_

Alec's voice had an edge of pure sex, he was whispering but Magnus closed his eyes and it was almost as if he could hear him standing next to him. "Oh yes, I am going to require you touch yourself. I need to hear you."

" _Jesus Christ."_

Magnus heard his zipper and matched the noise with his own. He carefully sat back slightly in his chair, so when he did find his release, he wouldn't ruin his pants. "I know your hesitating. Do it. Come on, baby. I'm touching myself."

" _Fuck."_

Alec blew out the word with such quiet force, Magnus stilled his movements. He didn't realize the thought of Alec touching himself through a phone line was such a turn on. Maybe it was the hyper-emotional state he was in but his breathing was already out of control and he barely touched himself. "Alexander, I need you to go faster."

" _You can't already be there." His voice breathy with need._

"Please. Now." Magnus started going faster, biting his cheek to keep his moaning to a minimum. "I can't wait." His only response was short with a whispered moan, "Alexander."

" _Yes."_

"Tonight, I am going to fuck you into the mattress." Magnus threw his head back at the noise Alec made, that was it. That's was his moment. "Fuck yes." He heard it, the hitch in his voice, the breathing, another noise that sounded like Alec kicked his desk. Magnus followed after him; he trapped his phone behind his shoulder and ear to catch his own release. Alec was quiet for a long time as was Magnus so he could get his breathing under control.

" _Another first for me huh?"_

Magnus laughed, "Actually, we found our first. I've never done that before."

" _Finally."_

Magnus snorted with laughed at the happy, sarcastic tone in Alec's voice. He had been waiting too long to have a first with the man. He took the mental note to figure out things he always wanted to do and then do them with Alec, he loved the sound of Alec's voice with that tone; he had to hear more of it. "Shit. I have a meeting. I have to go." Magnus straightens up, "I love you."

" _I'll see you later, lover boy."_

Magnus clicked the phone off with a smile; he felt like he could finally handle the rest of the day. He would make it to tonight; he had to. He would have a hot and horny fiancée waiting for him. He went about cleaning himself off to get back to work.

...

Alec was returning from the restroom when his phone went off. He knew the number; Gina was done with Underhill. He answered the phone but went down the stairs as he spoke to her. Which was perfect timing, he just finished his phone call with Magnus and that would have been awkward. He had never had that kind of call at work before but he could definitely see the appeal behind it now. He had two hours left in the workday and he wanted nothing more than to meet Magnus at home to have a few minutes alone while the kids played.

He entered the glass doors as Gina was showing Underhill around her desk to the HR waiting area, "All set?"

"His computer access card will be a few days, I've sent the notice to IT for equipment. As for everytting else, he's good." Gina smiled, "Oh, Alec, here."

Alec took the box she had on the edge of her desk that she was pointing at. "We cleaned out my brother's books, thought your kids could use them. They are within their age group."

"Oh awesome," Alec opened the box and it was stuffed with books. "Max does have a reading habit." He smiled at her.

Gina was the one person in the entire company who went out of her way to be kind to him. She spent time listening to him about Magnus and their children. She was on the younger side and adored Max since Alec brought Max the first time when he was only months old. She also took a personal interest in his relationship with Magnus, being a good support system at work. She got huffy with him when she found out about Magnus through the grapevine and not from him but that lasted less than a day before she took him to lunch to beg for details. She instantly included Raphael in her 'good morning' emails to him. He couldn't have asked for a better work friend; he did feel bad about not telling her, but he was so used to not telling anyone it didn't even cross his mind.

"You have a child?" Underhill asked.

"Children. Two." Alec picked up the box, "Thanks, darling." He winked at Gina and went to leave, hoping Underhill would get the hint and follow along.

"Boys? Girls? Both?"

"Yeah, boys, Max is four and Raphael will be five next month."

"Wow, that's young and very close together. Your poor wife." Underhill laughed.

"I'm not married." Alec hit the elevator button for up; he noticed that Underhill's laugh seemed strained. He barely came out to his company a month ago and so his feelings on telling a complete stranger his personal life didn't sit well with him, but the entire company knew it was going to get around. "Max is my biological son. Raphael is my boyfriend's biologically son."

"Boyfriend, huh?" Underhill held the door open as they got off.

Alec frowned at him, "I don't really like to talk about my personal life at work; I prefer to work. However, since it is companywide knowledge, yes, I am gay. I have a live-in partner and we have two children." The box was a lot heavier then Alec realized and it was becoming heavier by the moment, he wanted to know just how many books she could fit in there. "My office is this way. I'll show you that first so I can put this down."

He got inside his office with the box on the edge of his desk when his personal phone rang, it was Magnus. He failed at keeping the grin off his face, "Hello?"

" _Since when do you say 'hello'?"_

Alec laughed at him, hoping that would be the response, "Since I have the new guy in my office." It had not even been thirty minutes since their last phone conversation and he could still hear the sex laced in Magnus' voice; it was strained but Alec heard it. He knew no one would be able to pick up on that sound but him, "What's up?"

" _Please tell me you are getting off work on time."_

"Yeah, that's the plan." Alec already told Tessa he couldn't stay late even if something came up; he needed to be home to see his family. "Gina gave me a huge box of books for the boys; I figured we could go through them tonight."

" _Sounds great, after dinner, maybe? I have a last minute client that I have to meet. You need to get the boys from daycare tonight. I should be home around dinner."_

"Misty is going to be so disappointed." Alec just laughed at his snort. Misty was a little girl in the boy's daycare class who was in awe of Magnus and his spiky hair. She always wanted to touch his mini Mohawk which in the beginning he was okay with but now it looked like the little girl was head over heels in love, "I have to get back to work. Don't worry; I got the boys and dinner. I love you." Alec looked at Underhill after he clicked his phone off with Magnus' 'I love you, too, baby' hanging in the air. They never really did the pet name thing but once in a while Magnus would pull out a name and completely shocked him, "Sorry."

"No, of course." He waved it off. "Family's important."

Alec came around his desk to grab a file, "Let's go see your desk." He went out of his office making sure Underhill was close behind him. "So, we are a four-man team. It's me, then you, and then we have two guys under that; Karen and Chris. You three sit in a four-person cube layout right here." It was barely 15 steps from Alec's door to the open side of the cube. "Karen and Chris are currently meeting with a client in the conference room-" Alec pointed to the wooden door along the wall of his office but down a ways, "They are performing exit interviews with the client at the end of the contract." Alec pointed to an area beyond the cube walls. "Will and Jem's teams are just on the other side there. This whole side of the floor is dedicated to the training and development teams. Will, Jem, and myself all answer to Tessa. Each team is made up of four-man groups. Although, you answer to me if Will or Jem ask for anything consider it a request from me. We all work together when need be."

"Alec," a women came around the wall to greet him, "I need you." She smiled.

"Go ahead and have a seat, yours is the empty pod. I'll be right back."

Underhill took a seat where Alec pointed to and began going through all the file cabinets to see what was left for him, the answer was nothing. Everything was thoroughly cleaned out.

"Alec did that. He's a mild clean freak and wanted you to have a clean desk when you came in." A female voice called to him.

Underhill turned to see a guy and girl standing before him, "Karen and Chris?"

"That's us. Alec told us you would be arriving this afternoon for a walkthrough." Chris answered while putting his things away. "We are a pretty tight team, and work well together."

"Yeah, when you stop being an idiot." Karen smacked Chris across the chest and took her seat.

Chris followed after her, they had been cubemates for five years, "Never letting that go are you?"

Karen laughed, a deep belly laugh that would echo along the walls, "Right." She winked at Underhill, "Chris, here, made a stupid mistake in front of a client involving Alec's personal life so now we get to internally as a team make fun of him forever since Alec's too nice for his own good and practically forgave before they made it back to the office."

"You guys do seem like a close team. Alec's been good so far showing me around but he got called away." Underhill smiled at the two members of his team, but he was most interested in Alec and his blue eyes. He was gay so that was a positive but he was in a committed relationship which was negative. His thoughts strayed off center to wonder how stable that relationship was.

...

Alec opened the door and ushered both the boys inside, "Alright, your choices are chicken or chicken." He nodded his head as he got a round of 'gross' and 'ewww', it didn't matter the second he made a plate for himself they would be all over it. There was something about it being on his plate that made it magically better. He got in the habit of making his plate full so when they wanted it he could easily dish it out in halves and they would be all set. He would wait for them to start in then make himself another plate so they wouldn't decide to change their mind. It was things like this that made him not want to have another baby but then he thought of him and Magnus having a baby together and it did wild things to his insides. It was a viscous circle that Alec had no way out of, but the sight of Magnus holding a baby of their own had an overwhelming effect on him.

"Twenty minutes of TV time then I want you both in the kitchen." Alec turned on the TV and gave Max the remote; those two knew more about his iPhone and their TV then he did. It was slightly scary to him. They both wanted Magnus' phone over his because Magnus' phone was cooler. They had the same phone but it was something about it being Magnus' that made it cooler like the food on Alec's plate was better, they never went after Magnus' plate. Their children were weird.

He made dinner, making sure to put a plate aside for Magnus. He wasn't sure when he was getting home or if he would want food but he still put in the microwave just in case. He then watched let the boys spend their usual hour to eat, they were possibly the slowest eaters on the planet since they had yet to manage eating and having a conversation at the same time. You wouldn't think they spent almost every waking moment together with how much they always had to talk about and play together. It amazed him and pleased him at the same time. His heart growing by the day at their unconditional love of one another. They were already brothers in every sense of the term.

...

Magnus came home sometime later and smiled at the small note on the kitchen table.

 _Foods in the microwave. Boys and I are downstairs._

He put his bag down and with his suit jacket and headed straight for the basement. The boys were off to the side, playing on the race car track Alec had sat upon an old ice hockey table, he took most of it apart since it was broken and built it up to support the car track. The boys were only allowed to play with it when they had supervision since it wasn't really meant for their age range.

"Hi, dad!" Raphael called to him, but he and Max didn't move from their spot.

"Hey," Alec slowed his treadmill down but didn't stop it. "You eat?"

"Not yet," He came up to the side of the handrailing, "How long until you're done?"

Alec stopped the treadmill, "Now," He smiled at him. "I've already managed my run," Alec reached over to pull on his tie, "This is mine."

"Uhm, no sir, I bought this very expensive tie in New York City." Magnus let Alec tug him in close.

"Yes, but I stole it fair and square." Alec smiled and stepped down from the treadmill and leaned against the handrail, pulling Magnus to him by his favorite tie. They went back and forth stealing it and wearing it. He went to Magnus' neck to undo the tie, slipping it from its knot and letting it hang around his neck. He then worked on the top few buttons of his white button-down shirt.

Magnus looked up to watch the kids for a moment, making sure they were focused on the race track. "Careful, Mr. Lightwood." He met his eyes again; the lust was evident in his now deep blue eyes. He put his hands on Alec's hips just under his shirt, he was utterly slick with sweat, and Magnus couldn't get a good grip. There was a slight erotic feel to Alec's skin moving under his wandering hands. They really needed to be away from prying eyes.

He nodded but bent forward anyway to kiss the now exposed base of his neck. Magnus tilted his head back to give him a little more room. Alec pulled back far too soon when he heard one of the cars come from the track and fall to the floor, making a vibrating loud 'clunk' sound off the walls. Magnus stepped back. "This has to wait."

"Dad?"

Alec turned to see Max holding up the car in question. "Go eat; we'll be up in a minute." He waited for Magnus to walk away but calling him back, "Oh and lover, keep the tie out. We might need it later." He was rewarded with a deep laughter from Magnus as the children called for him again none the wiser of their parent's innuendos.


	3. Marriage & Baby

**Chapter 3 – Marriage & Baby **

Izzy threw herself onto her brother's bed where Alec and Magnus were still sleeping, she was in the center but facing Alec. Alec grunted at the movement when her elbow met his stomach. "What?" Alec looked over at the bedside clock, almost eight am on a Saturday morning.

Magnus groaned and pushed on her elbow to get her away from him. He sounded groggy with the sleep clouding his voice. "Are you sure throwing yourself in bed with two grown men is a good idea?"

"It's eight am; you two are the worst morning people on the planet. How do you two have children?"

"Alexander, get her out of here." Magnus pushed on her again to get her closer to Alec.

Alec opened his eyes when Izzy's elbow reconnected with his stomach, "Why are you here?"

"I'm getting married today and couldn't sleep. Wake up."

He smiled at her; she sounded like a giddy child. Her impression of Max was perfect, the same giddy laugh of his four-year-old. "You could have knocked on the door instead of jumping in our bed." He sat up as best he could with two other adults in his queen sized bed. Magnus kept telling him they should have brought over his king size bed but they would have had to rearrange the entire room and Alec wasn't ready for that yet. Not that he wasn't against it, just the thought of having to do all that work right now was not something he wanted. "We could be naked."

"You have two four-year-old's running around; you think you're sleeping naked?" She asked.

Alec nodded with complete understanding at her logic, she was not wrong but he was not going to tell her that, "Get out. I'll be down in a minute."

Izzy leaned over and kissed his cheek, "Hurry up, I got coffee." She twisted to look at Magnus and kissed his cheek as well, "You too."

Magnus groaned and tried to push her away but he missed since she was already up and out of the room, closing the door behind her. Magnus' hand connected with Alec's knee, he kept his hand there when he realized Izzy was no longer with them. "Can't we go back to bed?" He groaned out in exasperation.

Alec put himself back down next to his boyfriend, forcing Magnus to remove his hand, "You know that's not going to happen, she's going to jump on us again."

"Kiss me before I die," Magnus whispered.

Alec smiled at him, "We wouldn't want that, now would we."

Magnus licked his lips to welcome the kiss, "Yeah, who would you get to marry you then?" He smirked when Alec pulled roughly on Magnus' hair then kissed him; he put his hands on Alec's arm and side respectfully to get him to stay in place.

Alec pulled back; he knew what to say to get back at him. "You have five minutes before I'm sending Izzy back up here." He pulled back before Magnus could groan and get back at Alec for his smart remark. "Five minutes." He held up his hand with a five and a smile.

Magnus sat up on his elbows to watch Alec pull on the shirt Magnus had expertly removed the night before which led to further activities before sleep took them. If only Izzy knew the real reason, they were never morning people she would blush. He flopped back on the bed when Alec actually left the room. He heard the faint sounds of the children in the hallway before closing his eyes. He needed five more minutes of sleep but he wasn't going to get that any more.

By the time Magnus made it downstairs ten minutes later and fresh from a quick, cold shower, the kitchen was buzzing. Max was sitting in Alec's lap munching on peanut butter toast, with what looked like a peanut butter joker smile on his face. Raphael was next to Izzy with a slice of toast of his own. Both the kids had cups of chocolate milk while Alec and Izzy had coffee. Alec with black and Izzy with so much cream and sugar there was no way anyone would consider hers coffee anymore. Magnus took a seat next to Alec and across from Raphael to reach for the other cup on the table. He lifted the lid to cool it off faster while Raphael came to him wanting to be in his lap. He quickly moved his coffee to reach for his son, or he would have ended up with peanut butter all over himself. Raphael was clutching his toast to keep it within his grasp that his hands were going to be sticky for the rest of the day no matter how many times Magnus washed him. Both the boys got baths last night because Alec said there would be no time in the morning.

Magnus kissed the top of Raphael's head and messed with his jet black hair, "Sleep well?" He nodded, sleepily and continued to munch on his toast much in the same matter as Max.

"Magnus?" Max leaned over in Alec's lap, forcing Alec to grip his sides to keep him from falling off.

He smiled and leaned over to kiss his head as well; it was adorable to him how they got into a groove of being such a tightknit family. "How did you sleep?" Max seemed to be more talkative this morning.

"Good." He moved back to straight on Alec's lap, causing Alec to readjust again.

Magnus leaned over, pulling Alec's shirt to get him to lean into him, kissing right below his ear, too intimate for the breakfast table setting but it was more for Izzy's benefit than theirs. "And how did you sleep?"

Alec pushed on his arm when both boys and Izzy came out with a round of 'eww' and 'gross', "You mean after we finally went to sleep?" Also for Izzy's benefit.

"You guys don't think Simon and I don't have late nights?"

"Why are you here?" Magnus looked at her; it wasn't mean or harsh, just a normal questioning tone.

Alec shook his head, "Magnus." The tone was clear that he needed to back off but that never stopped him before and Alec knew it wouldn't stop him now.

"I was bored. Everything is all set, I have hair and makeup with Clary at noon before heading to the courthouse and I had no one else to hang out with." Izzy went back to her coffee.

Izzy and Simon decided that they didn't need a big affair for their wedding. His mother was holding out strong against the marriage because Alec's lifestyle was too much to ask for in-laws. They had friends but not a lot of money and instead of spending thousands on glitter and glam they opted for the courthouse. The only people invited were her siblings and their significate others plus the boys. Then they rented out a small backroom at a local restaurant where they would have dinner and cake. That is the only idem Izzy spent money on; her cake. It was a two-tiered masterpiece that she had been dreaming of for weeks. She was also spending the afternoon with Clary to have a girl's day before meeting at the courthouse at four pm; their scheduled time to tie the knot. She had a simple white dress that went to mid-thigh and sleeveless with small white flowers all over to give it a little something extra; you could only see the flowers with specific movements and lighting. Simple yet pure. She demanded the boys wear black pants and ties; she didn't care about colors or style. She just wanted to have beautiful pictures. Clary's dress was going to be simple and a similar fashion to Izzy's just in a deep green and long sleeves, Clary was beginning to show and her dress only made her look even more pregnant. Clary was not happy about that but she said it was Izzy's day and she would dress in whatever dress she wanted. Izzy claimed it was all in her head and she looked beautiful. None of the boys said anything other then they would look beautiful in anything they wore.

Magnus went with the boys to get them little suits with button-down shirts, a fun vest, and a cute tie to match. Max's was in sky blue while Raphael's was in mint green. He and Alec were planning on wearing their regular everyday business casual clothes but Magnus couldn't resist getting the matching ties so they would match their children. Overall the entire affair was going to be simple and clean just the way Izzy wanted. Alec offered to help her pay for more but she finally confessed it didn't feel right having a large wedding without Simon's family. She would rather marry at the courthouse with just her family then be flashy with no one to show off to. Alec let it go with a kiss to her forehead and did what he could to just be helpful. Magnus made one snarky comment about Izzy being pregnant because of the rushed wedding, but one harsh kick from Alec to his shin which bruised for a week and Simon choking on his water for an hour straight to get him to shut up. Never mentioning it… ever again.

Tomorrow they would be doing their regular Sunday family dinner except with a twist; they would be having a different cake so Jace and Clary could do a small gender reveal for their baby. Everyone had taken bets on the gender but Jace was tight-lipped about the how affair. Izzy offered to let them make the announcement during their dinner but Clary refused to say, it should be about Izzy not their baby and never brought it up again. Jace purchased a small cake where the insides were colored with either blue or pink. Alec did pay for that cake because he wanted to do something for his siblings.

"Where's Simon?"

"Out with Jace decorating the backroom we rented. Clary had to work the morning shift and I will be picking her up around eleven but I didn't want to sit at home alone. So I came here." Izzy shrugged her shoulders as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Done packing?" Magnus asked but his eyes were on Raphael's hands. He could never figure out how he was such a messy eater; it usually grossed him out on some level.

"Yep! I am so excited to just go lay on the beach." She and Simon did spend a little extra money to go to Florida for five days, they were leaving Monday morning and would return the following Saturday. "And don't think for a second I don't know why you asked." She pointed at him.

Magnus laughed and grinned at her, "What? You mean like how are you at my house at this god-awful hour instead of at home repacking for your honeymoon?"

"Oh Jesus, you two, just stop. It's too early for this crap." Alec stood up, wrapping an arm around Max's stomach to hold him up, Max giggled and they left the room. Max's giggle seemed to vibrate off the ways, getting lower with the echo on the stairs.

Magnus smiled, Alec was doing something to make the small child that way and it was like a shot of liquor warming his entire insides. Raphael craned his head and practically jumped from Magnus' lap, taking off at full speed to follow them. Magnus knew he was going to have to check every surface for smeared peanut butter in his path. "That kid is going to get peanut butter everywhere."

"Alec is a little cranky this morning." Izzy frowned after him.

"I think it has something to do with your wedding." Magnus looked at her, "He's happy and wants you to get married but I have this feeling he wants you to have more than a courthouse wedding. Like even though you said that's what you want, you don't really mean it."

Izzy nodded, "I used to play wedding like any little girl would. I would talk about this grand event like the princess weddings we watched on TVs. I wanted glitter on everything. White with gold glitter." She giggled a little, "I use to make Jace and Alec take turns walking me down the aisle. They hated it, calling it gross but I would cry until my dad made them play along. My eight-year-old self was so happy; they, on the other hand, hated it."

"Which I'm sure made it even better for you."

"Oh yeah, of course."

Magnus heard the giggling even loud now, "I should go help Alec, wanna come?"

"Nah, I'm good. Do me a favor, get to the courthouse a few minutes early, I want to see Alec first."

Magnus nodded, "Sure thing." He went to kiss her cheek.

"Wait, Magnus?" Izzy actually pulled on his arm, "I didn't want to say anything with the others because I think I feel like I have no right but how is Alec handling Lydia and Raj's return?" She had sat there and listened to Alec tell them at their family dinner last week of Lydia showing up on his door talking of her return and wanting nothing to do with Max. She had questions but she didn't want to speak up because she was afraid to bring up bad memories.

Magnus sighed, it was low and long, "He throws up when he talks about it because he has this fear they are going to take Max away, so we don't talk about it often." If Jace had asked him the same question he would have given him a much different answer, even if Clary asked she would have gotten a different answer, both would have been sugar coated; but not Izzy. Izzy needed the truth. "Lydia says they don't want Max, so we are going with that for now. But Raj hasn't made a play yet so Alec is sitting in panic mode on the edge of his seat waiting for something to happen."

"So the plan is just to ignore Alec's fear until it goes away?"

"For now." Magnus nodded, "Alec isn't ready to talk about it, but I pulled a number for a therapist we use at work, I'm slowly bringing in the idea he needs to talk to someone about it. I don't think this is a fear we can work on. It's something Alec needs to come to terms with and I think only professionals can help." He frowned, he hated not being able to do more but he felt strongly that Alec would need to deal with this fear, no one would be able to help him with this one. He would try his best to be there and get him talking when he needed it but internally, Alec needed to let go of it in his own time. "He bottles a lot of his stress up, from work to personal because he's always felt like he had to. It does not seem to matter how good of a support system he has."

"It's only going to get worse." Izzy nodded, "Let me know if there's anything I can do." She left then.

...

The wedding went off without issue. Izzy looked beautiful with her hairpin to the side with curl upon curl flowing down over her exposed shoulder. She even made Alec walk her in the courtroom, it helped ease his mind but he couldn't help but thinking she deserved more. They went to the restaurant and stayed much later then they planned to, leaving Alec and Magnus with two extremely cranky children the next day. It was only noon and Alec was ready to scream. It was his own fault for not leaving when he knew he should but it was Izzy's day and the kids wouldn't settle down.

Magnus overslept again, leaving Alec extra time with the children and finally threaten divorce if Magnus didn't get his 'ass' downstairs to help. Magnus shot back they had to be married first. Which didn't help Alec's mood who said the weddings off and stormed out of the room, make Magnus jump out of bed to follow.

Max was going from whiny to hyperactive and dragging Raphael down the same tunnel of child craziness; Max always seemed to be the ringleader of their antics despite him being the younger one of the two. Magnus finally settled them in Raphael's room with a book and forcing them to read to one another which had the desired effect in calming them.

Jace and Clary finally arrived with Izzy and Simon in tow. Alec carted Max and Raphael out to the living room to hang all over their aunts. Raphael did his standard straight for Clary and sat down right in front of her while Max hung onto Alec by outstretching his little hands to hang on his belt. He wasn't whining, just wanted to be near him. Alec finally sat on the floor, dragging his son across his lap. Max was content to watch the activity around the room, calming down enough to just relax with Alec.

An hour into the time together Simon and Magnus left to go pick up lunch while Jace went to pick up the cake. Alec wanted to go but Magnus said no and Max wouldn't leave his lap.

Lunch was simple; they picked up a few pizzas, salad, and breadsticks. Clary had sure it was pizza or Jace was going to feel pain like never before. He quickly gave in and it was pizza for lunch. But it was the cake everyone was waiting for. There was a tie who wanted it more; Clary or the boys. Both for different reasons; Clary for the baby and the boys for that fact that it was cake and they never got cake unless it was something extraordinary. And this would be their second day in a row with cake, the children were in heaven and mouths were watering at the sight of a second cake.

"Boys, back up." Alec grabbed Max around the waist and hoisted him back a bit to allow Clary to get to her cake first. "Raphael." He looked back at Alec then joined him, crawling over to sit on his knees. Alec held a groan in which Magnus caught as he sat down next to Alec, picking up his hand, and leaning into him. Raphael climbed onto his father's lap, leaning back hard on his chest, bouncing a little, Alec got the chance to smirk at Magnus' slight discomfort. Their children were small but still a force to deal with when they put their into weight into their movements.

Jace sat next to Clary on the couch; they were both leaning towards the cake with Clary holding the knife. Izzy was on the floor in front of the chair where Simon was sitting; she had the plated and silverware.

Clary looked around, "Can I do this now?" She didn't wait for an answer sliced into the small round pink and blue frosted cake, she made a second slice and pulled the piece out to reveal a bright blue center. "I'm having a boy!"

"Oh, god, we are going to be outnumbered forever!" Izzy cried out mixed in with all the congratulations.

The party went on for a little longer before Clary needed to go, she kept falling asleep in Jace's arms. Izzy and Simon said they needed to pack some more which earned Izzy a dirty look from Magnus who clearly asked her if she needed to pack the day before.

It didn't take long for everyone to leave which left Alec and Magnus making a deal on who would do what; clean the kitchen or clean the boys.

"I gave them baths on Friday." Alec shot back at Magnus.

"That was nothing; they were already- basically clean." He pointed to them now; both had icing faces, nothing bad but still enough that neither wanted to man-up and be the parent for the evening. "I'll get em' next time." He smirked at Alec's frown. He leaned over to give a quick kiss, "I love you, darling."

Alec frowned deepened at the words, "You're so mean." He grunted when he inexpertly had to catch a flying four-year-old. Max and Raphael barreled down on him since he was still on the floor. They were both talking a mile a minute about cake and bath time. Leaving enough room for Magnus to pick up plates and make a hasty retreat from the living room. Alec glared at him before listening to the boys who continued to demand his attention.


	4. Engagments & Fights

**Chapter 4 – Engagements Fights**

Alec stood next to Gina who had her hand on his arm while she went through a new photo album on his phone of Max and Raphael from the night before. They were both getting bored inside with winter seemingly lasting forever, so Alec set up a sheet fort for them in Max's room. Magnus got home from a client meeting late and missed the fun until he came home to both the boys passed out in their fort and Alec smirking while taking photos. Magnus had to take on a few more clients since Valentine stole some of his clients then quit and left Magnus with an even broader client list. It was like Magnus and Alec switched work schedules. He felt terrible but he made sure to take many pictures and send them all to Magnus. Magnus threated to build a fort of their own in their bedroom, Alec egged him on but in the end, but nothing came of it. He didn't even get much a goodnight kiss before Magnus was half passed out for the night.

"I got one better for you." Alec took his phone back and swiped to another secret album on his phone, "Look at these." It was a simple picture of a display case at the local jewelry store. The display case held a perfect set of matching black wedding bands. Alec got Izzy to watch the boys for a few hours on Sunday while he took Magnus to the mall to look at wedding bands. He wanted to buy them to wear now as 'engagement' rings but Magnus told him no. They agreed on the rings but Magnus told him he had to wait. Alec then proceed to pull a perfect impression of Max and whine for the rest of their mall shopping. Magnus rewarded him with a very lengthy make-out session in the mall parking lot. They moved the car to the end of the aisle where there were no cars and Magnus pulled him into a deep kiss. They spent over an hour talking and kissing before returning home for the family dinner. It was these little moments that kept Alec going during all the crazy times during the week. Relaxing in the car with Magnus' hands in his with small talk and butterfly kisses.

"No way!" She squealed out loud, much louder then Alec would have liked. Everyone at the Training and Development team building event turned to her; the stares didn't seem to bother her. Gina jumped up, because she was too short for him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh my god."

Alec smirked at her, waving around the room to get people to look away but they only stared more intently. "Well, thank you for that." Alec pulled her away from him, "Now, I will be announcing this to the entire division." He pointed behind her so she would see what he meant.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry but not really. This is amazing." She turned to the room. "Alec and Magnus are getting married!"

"Gina!" Alec grounded out under his breath but he couldn't fault her or be mad. He had every intention to make this announcement. He had another intention for wanting to announce his engagement. His new employee, Underhill, kept making comments about dating and crushes and talking about Alec's eyes. He had not crossed the line yet and he was a great employee, so Alec was hesitant to report him. He was still managing it as a his team lead. Underhill made it known he had a thing for Alec which didn't sit well with him, but not enough yet to report him. It was all meaningless to him, he barely noticed it in the beginning. He knew if he showed Gina the picture she would make the announcement for him. He had to smile at her jumping around; he didn't know what he would do without her at work with him.

"It's finally official, Malec is a thing."

"Malec?" Alec coughed on his water, "What the hell is a 'Malec'?"

"You, silly. Magnus plus Alec equals Malec." Gina held up her hands then joined them together, "The girls and I came up with it. Malec is happening."

"Please stop saying that." Alec looked like the end of the world was going on. Who the hell came up with that name?

"It's a little weird." Underhill had slipped up close to Alec and spoken right next to him.

Alec practically jumped out of his skin while Gina frowned, "No one asked you, Clark." Gina had noticed the interest Clark Underhill had taken in Alec and was not happy about it. She had met Magnus and the kids and she adored his family. Her passive aggressive nature took over and she would always called him by his first name which he hated and pointed it out all the time. She didn't stop.

Alec went on as if they never spoke, "Alright, you can continue to say it but not to Magnus."

Gina snorted, "Who do you think approved it?"

"Oh my god, he did not." Alec frowned, "Oh my god, he did." He laughed out loud, that was definitely a Magnus move and he was going to save that for a later date of torture. Alec went on with his conversation with Gina, both of them effectively cutting Underhill out of their conversation. Alec spent the rest of the team building event with people telling him congratulations and Gina gushing over the wedding, making plans for them. Finally, she gave up and said she was just going to have to set up a lunch meeting with Magnus because Alec was useless for planning. He had to laugh and agree with her. Underhill tried a few more times to insert himself around Alec but Gina kept putting herself in Alec's circle. Always keeping him center in her conversation.

Underhill finally got his chance when Alec headed out to his car, he was also leaving at the same time and asked to walk out together, and Alec couldn't refuse any longer and agreed.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks, I'm excited." Alec smiled, it went up to his eyes. "I've never loved anyone the way I love Magnus." He didn't know where that line came from, it was true, but it wasn't something he would normally talk about with Underhill.

Underhill nodded, "You are really in love aren't you?"

Alec frowned, the tone of his voice was off, something didn't seem right. "Yeah, I am." They made it to their cars; Underhill was near his but one row over. "There is nothing better then knowing I get forever with someone who loves me and treats my son as his own. Magnus and Raphael are very special to me."

"How long have you known Magnus?" Underhill kept pressing for more.

"About a year." Alec unlocked his car but stayed near his door, it was clear Underhill wasn't done talking and he couldn't be rude. "It's been a wonderful year."

"It's odd how so much can change in a year," Underhill smirked at him, thinking hard before speaking. "If only I had met you a year ago, then maybe it would be us getting married."

The comment took a moment to register in Alec's mind, "No," Alec frowned, "I would have found Magnus no matter what. You need to stop talking that way."

"Alec-"

"Stop!" Alec held out his hand, "I'm in a relationship and I need you to stop making those comments. The ones at work, the ones right now. Stop talking about my eyes or if we were dating. You and I." Alec flung his hands between them, pointing back and forth. "We are not dating. So you need to stop. Now. End of discussion." He turned and got into his car. He didn't want to hear any more from Underhill for the day. He was running a little late and needed to get his children from daycare and take them out to dinner. He already promised them food out since Magnus had another meeting. He was going to take them to their favorite place for pancakes, they had requested and he was going to give them what they wanted.

He was close to reaching his limit with Underhill but he needed the help on his team; he had to find a way to make it work. He couldn't afford to be short manned, not with Magnus having to work all his late nights. He just needed to deal with Underhill until Magnus was back to normal. He also couldn't dock Underhill's work; he was one of his best on the team even as being as new as he was.

Magnus was tempted to join his boys for pancakes but Alec was excited about his time with their children, so he went straight home after his meeting. There were dishes in the sink and toys all over the living room. Then he would tackle Raphael's room before going onto Max's. He now understood Alec's complete exhaustion from his last few weeks of being overworked. Somehow it was completely different when there were four people in the house verse two.

He frowned at the knock on the door. He wasn't expecting anymore and none of the Lightwoods ever knocked. Wiping his hands, he brought the towel with him to the door, "Hello?" He needed to get ride of this person, Magnus wanted to have a dent on the chores done by the time Alec came home so they would get some family time in tonight. Life added a whole new ball of stress when you could see your family but not be a part of your family.

"Magnus? Right?"

Magnus frowned, "Yes? Who are you?"

"I'm Clark Underhill, Alec's sub-account manager. Is he available?"

Magnus watched the man move around on his heels, almost craning his neck to get a look inside their home. "No, he's not home. Can I help you?" Magnus frowned at him. He heard Alec speak the name but not much followed that. He did mention how he was an asset to the team but really nothing else.

"I've got a file for Alec." He held up the blue folder.

Magnus stepped back, "You can come in for a moment but Alec isn't going to be home for a while." He thought better of it and held out his hand, "Maybe I should just take that from you?" But Underhill already made his way into the living room, so Magnus closed the door behind him with a deep frown. Something about Underhill's presence threw him off kilter; his gut was telling him didn't belong here and shouldn't be here.

Underhill glanced around, focusing on a picture on the wall of Alec with Magnus and the boys. "Sure." He handed the file to him. "Could you tell him I got it after returning to the office after the team event?"

The photo was a candid shot of Alec sitting on a porch chair with Magnus standing behind him bending over giving Alec a back hug, Max was on Alec's lap and Raphael was sitting on the arm of the chair, holding onto Magnus. It was a sweet moment Clary captured one night before family dinner outside. No one was looking the at the camera, they were all focused on something off frame. No one even know Clary had taken the photo until she came over with a few weeks back; wrapped and frame. A belated house warming present.

"Of course."

"He announced your engagement today. Well, Gina announced it." Underhill came by only to see the type of person Magnus was, the file could have waited for the morning but Underhill didn't want to wait. He wanted to know what he was up against. He made the decision that he was going to make a pass at Alec no matter the state of his soon-to-be marriage.

Magnus noticed that he never said congratulations to the news, he also didn't know that Alec was going to make that announcement but he wasn't going to tell that to Underhill. Something about the way he was looking at their family photo was placing an ill feeling in his stomach. "Yes, I'm aware."

"I should get going. Good to meet you." Underhill didn't wait for a reply and he was gone.

Magnus sat the file folder down on the kitchen table as he went back to the dishes; he had lost his motivation for any cleaning. He would finish the dishes and be done until Alec came home. There was something wrong with Clark Underhill; he wasn't here to drop a file off, he was here to scope out the house. Alec would have told him if he had someone coming by, they only talk to each other a dozen times a day; it wasn't something Alec would have forgotten. He didn't have to wait long for their return, ten minutes or so, and the side door opened with two laughing kids and one very exhausted looking fiancée.

"Have fun?"

The boys didn't answer; they just went for the living room and the kittens that were waiting for them.

"Next time come with me. I'm too old for them alone." Alec grinned at him.

"You're not even twenty-five, babe. You got some time to go." Magnus sighed at him, "Hey, you have an employee by the name, 'Underhill'?" Magnus put his towel down and went to greet his boyfriend with a kiss, asking the question as he went. He lost his smile at Alec's deep frown. The kiss was quick as Magnus looked back to the folder on the table.

"Yeah, why?" Alec went further into the kitchen.

Magnus picked up the blue folder and tapped it against Alec's chest. "He dropped this off." He let go of the folder when Alec pressed his hand to his chest, trapping the folder to his chest. "I don't like him."

"What did he say?"

Magnus frowned, that seemed like an odd question but he went with it, "He scoped around the living room, looking at our pictures then said you announced our engagement but he never said congratulations. Then he said good to meet you and left." He went over to the counter to rest against it, "Something was off with him. I didn't like it."

Alec dropped the folder to the table without looking at it's contents, "I'm sorry, he should never have come here. I'll speak to him."

"You're not telling me something, what is it?" Magnus couldn't stand the look in Alec's eyes. He was geared up from work and working into a fight; he sensed his insides burning just below the surface. "Tell me."

"He's a great worker, really helping the team, but he makes comments that he shouldn't." Alec moved further into the room, trying to get close to Magnus. It had been a long day of work, then the team building event, and more alone time with the children then he was willing to handle on little sleep the night before. He was just exhausted today; mentally and physically.

But Magnus wasn't having it and stepped away. "Comments? What comments?" He knew if he got too close to Alec his judgment would be clouded, he wanted to hear this clearly. Something in his gut was causing this reaction. "Alexander, tell me."

"Just stupid stuff like how he's never seen blue eyes like mine. Meaningless."

"Meaningless? You have got to be kidding me. That's not meaningless." Magnus raised his voice, he knew he should keep it down for the children but he was losing his will at this point.

Alec stepped up to him, closer, almost within reach, "Keep your voice down. The boys are in the living room." He hissed out to him in a much quieter voice.

Magnus knew his stress was mainly from work but the thought of someone else hitting on his boyfriend was not helping anything. "What else?" He saw Alec's hands go up; he was going to try and get out it. "Tell me now." Magnus hissed.

"Earlier after I announced our engagement, he told me if he had met me a year earlier he could have been the one to be marrying me." Alec hated the sound of his voice, but he hated the look on Magnus' face and his eyes more. He felt so small in front of Magnus and hated every minute of it. This was not the plan he had for his evening. He felt his neck stiffen in stress and pain; he tried to relive some of the tension with his hand, but it wasn't helping. Nothing was helping.

"Meaningless you say. Don't be stupid, Alec." Magnus felt like his frown was going to be a permanent fixture on his face before the night was over. Alec actually thought those words were meaningless, how could he? The question ran on repeat in his brain. "Really? Do you? You think he's meaningless, harmless?" The air in the room was growing thick with the tension. Magnus was finding it hard to breathe like he should.

"What is your problem?" Alec stepped back, Magnus' anger was crossing the line for him. "Look, I understand work is stressful but don't take it out on me."

Magnus huffed out and threw his arms in the air in a very dramatic gesture. "You think this is about my work." Magnus was furious now, "Your employee is hitting on you, making inappropriate comments, and it's my work stress. I don't want him coming here anymore. And I don't want him anywhere near our children."

Alec stepped back as far as he could, coming close to connecting with the refrigerator, "I said I would take care of it."

"You need to do more than take care of it. You shouldn't be working with him."

"I can't afford not to have him on my team. I can't work late anymore since you are working late all the time. I would have too much on my plate if he wasn't on my team."

Magnus felt himself going into shock over the words Alec was saying; he was just going to put up with it and do nothing more than telling him not to come around the house anymore. He couldn't believe his ears. "So what? You just deal with the comments because you need a fully functioning team."

"I talked to him about it earlier today and you saw my schedule when I was short staffed." Alec fought back.

"No, that's when you were short staffed by two with Quinn leaving and your vacant spot. Quinn has a replacement; you would be fine without Underhill and his fucking comments."

"Magnus, stop. My work is important to me and I need my staff to work with me. I don't like Underhill and his comments either but I need the help right now."

"So, what? I just have to put up with the knowledge that you are spending 40-50 hours a week with someone who's hitting on you all the time?" Magnus was mad, this wasn't right and Alec needed to see that and do something about it.

"I already told you I spoke with him earlier today. I will do something more permanent about it when Jem's team is back to normal and we can take the time to reorder the teams and the work load." Alec felt his face getting red. "I am handling it, Magnus." Alec reached for the back of Magnus' neck pulling him forward to mold their bodies together. "I love you. And only you. His comments are meaningless because they mean nothing to me." He kissed the side of Magnus' face.

Magnus closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Alec's waist to flatten them against him, pulling them even closer, "This isn't right."

Alec sighed and buried his face in Magnus' neck. This is what home felt like and he hated the rate at which he felt Magnus' pulse. He was angry and there was no calming him down. Magnus had worked himself up so much that nothing Alec said would relive him. He felt the tears at the back of his eyes but he refused to let them fall.


	5. Max & Raphael

**Chapter 5 – Max Raphael**

"Aunt Clary?" Raphael frowned at her. He was sitting on her lap while Max was in front of them reading out loud, he paused when Raphael sat up to speak. The cats weren't far from them, rolling around on the couch in plain view. Raphael had been staring off at them for a while and Clary could see neither child was really focused on the story.

"What's up, little man?" She smiled, she was babysitting for a few hours today while Alec had to work on a Saturday and Magnus had to step out for a doctors' appointment. He didn't really want to take the kids and Clary was happy for nephew time; she was getting late in her pregnancy and it would soon become a little harder to come over whenever she wanted.

"Is Magnus and Raphael leaving?" Max said.

"I don't want to leave." Raphael quickly added. "I like living with my dad's and Max."

"What?" Clary moved Raphael off her lap, so he and Max were sitting next to each other. The boys got close to one other, gripping a hand in one another. Providing themselves with a small amount of comfort. "What are you talking about?" Their words and their actions were tugging at her heart.

"They got loud. Not yelling. Just loud." Max frowned, unsure of himself.

Raphael nodded, "And they are not-" He stopped, "Playing together?"

"Playing together?" Clary froze in fear like they witness something they shouldn't have in the bedroom. Magnus and Alec were usually hands on but nothing inappropriate. She was perplexed by the looks on the boy's faces, they both looked sad and confused. Neither knew how to express what they were feeling. Something was going on in their heads and Clary didn't know what to do about it. They were holding onto each other almost in pain with uncertain feelings.

Raphael frowned, "Yeah, they don't play like me and Max. Something's wrong."

"Boys?" Magnus came in through the side door and heard most of the conversation. He didn't know when a good time to interrupt, "We are not going anywhere. Why don't you go upstairs and I'll come talk after I walk Aunt Clary out." Magnus bent down to kiss Raphael then Max on the top of the head. He waited for each of the kids to get a hug and kiss from Clary before heading upstairs; he looked to make sure they were playing before having a seat on the floor with her.

"When they first said you weren't playing together I thought it was some weird sex thing. I almost died on the inside from embarrassment." She smiled then frowned, "You guys are fighting?" Clary asked.

"We had a single fight. I was stressed from work and having a horrible day. One of Alec's co-workers stopped by with a ridiculous excuse, so I called Alec out on it and turns out this co-worker, whose on Alec's team, is harassing him with sexual advances, I think. Alec wasn't so clear on that and he's not doing anything about it because Clark Underhill is good at his job. He was talking about his blue eyes and how if they met sooner he would be marrying Alec instead of me." Magnus frowned at Clary, "I got so angry that he's not willing to do anything about it that I lost my temper. Alec didn't keep his temper in check either and we fought."

"In front of the kids."

"No," Magnus quickly responded, "But might as well have been, they were in the living room and we were in the kitchen. We should have waited until later but I lost my mind. How can he not report him? He is putting his work ethic above his personal ethics. He knows it's wrong but he won't do anything about it."

"Oh Magnus," Clary gave him a sad smile, "It will be okay."

"I shouldn't be talking to you about this. I'm sorry."

"Hey, that's not fair. I'm here for you and if you want to talk, then it's okay. I know Ragnor is in New York and you don't have a lot of friends here that aren't work-related." Clary sighed, she felt horrible for Magnus.

"I think that's part of the problem. I've become so invested in the Lightwood family I have no one to talk to if something comes up." Magnus frowned at her. "That sounded worse out loud then I meant. I'm grateful that everyone has been so accepting of Raphael and I. Truly, I am."

Clary nodded, "I understand, Magnus. It's okay. I am about to talk though and if you don't want to respond I'll get it but just listen to me." She waited for a response from him but like she said, he didn't give her one. Just looked down at his hands. "I'm not making an excuse for Alec but I know him well. Work is important to him. It has always been. He's worked since he was fifteen years old and his father instilled this crazy important work ethic and how important reputations are, Jace is the same way. I think having Max at such a young age made it worse because he has to provide for his family at all cost, he never had anyone to rely on. What could Jace or I or even Izzy help with when we had our own burdens? I know you don't either but he never has. The last seven years have been about what he can provide for his family; no one else."

Magnus was watching her; she wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know. "But this situation is so much more important than work either. It's going could ruin his position at his company if people think he's going along with it."

"You and I both know Alec isn't going to do something about it until he gets his head around it. No amount of us telling him what to do is going to help. How many weeks were you two going in circles before he got it?"

"This isn't some relationship fear. This is harassment. It's been going on for a while now and he hasn't told me about it." Magnus felt his insides burn, he was breaking for Alec but Alec didn't seem to care. He hated himself for thinking this way instead of just talking to him, but after their fight, he couldn't get over it. Alec was willing to just deal with being harassed before it was better for the company and he was willing to hide it from him.

"I'm sure he's embarrassed." Clary had to agree with Magnus on all his points. But she wasn't sure how to make him see that. "I'm sorry, Magnus, I wish I could help you more. You either have to corner him or wait him out. He'll come around. I'm going to talk to Jace maybe he can say something from a different angle."

Magnus nodded, he knew those were his only options and he was going to wait him out a little longer, even those he felt two months should be more than enough. He didn't like the sad looks Clary was giving him and made some excuse about needing to talk to the kids before walking her out to her car. He did talk to the kids and tried his best to get them to understand it was one simple disagreement and no one was leaving or breaking up. It seemed like they understood but that was the thing with children, you never really knew if they did understand or not. They could completely be okay with something and ten minutes later be crying for two hours over the same thing. There was no getting inside their brains to see if they really understood or not.

Alec showed up not to much later and jumped right into an afternoon of fun, he had to leave the house before they were up this morning and missed so much of their day that he focused on them. Magnus tried to get involved in playtime but his conversation with Clary was rolling over and over in his head, Alec picked up on it and tried to get him engaged which seemed to work for a little while then Clary's voice crept back into his head.

Magnus was pulling bath time and bed duties that night since Alec made dinner and cleaned up the kitchen, Max went down the easiest and next was Raphael. Both seemed to be relaxed after playing with Clary all afternoon. When he came into the living room, Alec was laid out on the couch, his hand across his stomach and the remote on the coffee table along with a now warm, untouched open beer.

"Whatcha' watching?" Magnus leaned against the door jamb from the kitchen.

"Eyewitness. Two gay teens witness a triple murder and keep it secret."

"Fun?" Magnus smiled.

"Their first kiss was almost hotter than ours; I feel like we messed up somewhere. Two straight teenage actors with a hotter first kiss." Alec watched Magnus standing there staring down at him, they were looking at each other but not meeting at the eyes. Magnus had one of Alec's t-shirts on, his Queen shirt from their first date, it was slightly too big for him. They almost wore the same size; it was close enough that only they could notice other than their vastly different styles. Magnus had longer arms, but Alec had broader shoulders. Magnus did wear pants one size smaller than Alec but he claimed it was his lack of hips that Alec had. The conversation was very vivid in Alec's mind now; it was one of their first time sleeping together. Magnus had made a comment about lack of hips and Alec made sure to show him all night actually what hips he did have by holding onto them throughout the night in various sexual positions. "Speaking of first kisses, nice shirt."

Magnus looked down, ignoring Alec's comment. He went for this shirt on purpose, it always reminded him of his boldness and their start. "We should be ashamed," Magnus smirked at him, never glancing at the TV. Magnus made his decision then and kicked off the wall to go to Alec, without asking he crawled on him, laying across him. Alec moved his hand on reflex and welcomed the weight of him on his chest. "Much better," Magnus whispered against his chest, the feeling of warmth was a blessing after today. Both of their legs were hanging off the end of the couch but then neither seemed to care.

"Mmhhmm," Alec closed his eyes and focused on Magnus. This was home and it had been weeks since he felt that way. The last few weeks were so hard for him and for Magnus. He knew it was his fault. Alec brought both hands around him and twisted slightly to tuck Magnus against him and the back of the couch, trapping him. "They go down okay?"

"Like a charm. Clary wore them out."

"How did the doctor's go?"

"Fine. Damn yearly insurance checkup. I would be okay without it." Magnus wished for a moment he wasn't in sweats; he could feel everything head to toe which made him want to take the snuggling upstairs. "I'm surprised your work doesn't make you."

"My work doesn't care. They get the cheap places to make it affordable which means it is not necessarily good insurance."

This was the most they had spoken to each other in a week. It didn't help that they were working such odd hours again. Alec was home with the boys while Magnus worked late. He got home in time to put the kids to bed and usually Alec was on his work computer or close to being passed out. They never had a moment of peace to just be each other. The last moment they had was last Saturday night which was spent not really talking; Alec was deep cleaning the kid's room and Magnus was distracting the kids. It worked for what they needed it to do but not for them being a couple.

"How was work? Meeting go okay?"

"Yeah, the client CEO was in Europe and the conference call lasted much longer than we planned. Underh-" Alec stopped himself for a pause, "He- my team wanted to break it up over two weeks but I didn't want that. So I forced my team to push through to end it today. I'm sure they hate me for it but I was not wasting another weekend at work. One full day was better than two half days in my opinion." Alec twisted again to move to his side; he didn't want to look at Magnus and the look in his eyes, so he pushed his chin up to rest in his hair as they were both on their sides now snuggled together. Alec sighed at the pressure of being this close, he felt like he could breathe again.

"I appreciate that. I hate you working on the weekends." Magnus kept one arm squished against Alec's chest but wrapped the other one over his side to flatten against Alec's back; he softly rubbed his hand up and down. "Let's do something fun tomorrow. It's getting warmer let's do something outdoors as a family."

"Mmhmm," Alec relaxed, "That sounds good."

"Max and Raphael asked Clary if Raphael and I were leaving because you and I were yelling and we no longer 'play together'." Magnus sighed against Alec.

Alec choked slightly over thin air, "Play together?"

"As in this, what we are doing right now. Watch TV and cuddle." Magnus clarified, "Hang out, I'm assuming. I spoke to them but I think we need to speak as a family."

"I agree." Alec nodded but spoke after a minute of silence, "Is that why you laid on top of me?" He smirked but he knew Magnus couldn't see him. He angled his head down when he felt Magnus pull up to look at him. He kept his smirk in place.

"No, I like laying on my boyfriend." Magnus searched his eyes, unsure of anything anymore. "Raphael and I aren't going anywhere."

"I never thought for a second you were." Alec leaned forward for a kiss but Magnus pulled back from him just before their lips met, "What?" Magnus awkwardly getting up to his knees. "What did I say?"

"Are you just going to keep Underhill on your team forever unchecked because you like his work ethic? Aren't you worried at all about my feelings on the matter?" He started his movements to get off the couch, Magnus was back to being in a fighting mood.

Alec sighed, throwing his head back on the couch. He waited for Magnus to get off of him until he got up. "Can we not do this? I just want to be with you."

"At some point, you are going to realize I love you and I want what's best for you. Staying around someone who is harassing you at work isn't healthy for you or our relationship." Magnus was mad again, "You might think it's all okay because you are getting the job done but I'm worried about you. Working in an environment like that isn't healthy and it's putting you under stress you don't need. It's stressing me out thinking about you there. All day. With him. What if he does something to you?"

Alec reached out for Magnus but he stepped back.

"You know what, I've changed my mind, I think tomorrow Raphael and I are going to spend the day as a father/son day so you can have some time with Max." Magnus shook his head and left but instead of going upstairs he went into Raphael's room. He didn't want to see his face at that moment. He had seen enough of the sad but angry eyes. He knew Alec wasn't mad at him or at least he didn't think it was directed at him. He didn't want to stop to ask either.

Alec stood in place, his hand still outstretched.

"Jace, Izzy, we have a problem." Clary came in from her babysitting and flopped on the couch with a groan; she was utterly exhausted.

"What's up?" Izzy asked as Jace asked, "Is it the baby?"

"Max and Raphael basically asked me if Alec and Magnus were breaking up."

"What?" Izzy sat up straight; she was on the phone with Simon while he was driving around the district of stores. They often spent time on the phone even if they were talking to each other, just to be on the phone with one another.

"I guess they had a fight not too long ago and haven't gotten over it. The boys have noticed the change in their relationship." Clary sat up to stretch her back while Jace pulled her feet up to his lap to massage them.

"What was the fight about?"

"Magnus was reluctant to open up but I finally got out of him that Alec is being harassed at work by some guy and he isn't doing anything about it because the guy is a good employee." Clary frowned, her heart was aching for her brother-in-law for more than one reason, mainly though Alec was the sweetest person she ever knew and he didn't need this in his life.

"Simon, I gotta go." Izzy hung up on him and sat up straight. "What did you just say?"

"Yeah, he's saying things like how he could have been Alec's husband if they met sooner. I guess he stopped by the house and Magnus was the one home. It was awkward."

Jace frowned, "Why isn't our brother doing anything about it?"

"I don't know other than Magnus said he's a good worker and Alec doesn't want to lose that."

"That is so stupid. Alec's the smart, mature one. How is he letting this happen to him?"

"Jace, I don't think it's that simple." Clary shook her head, "I told Magnus I would ask if you would talk to him, honey but I kind of think we need to keep quiet for a bit about it."

"Why?" Izzy asked.

Clary sighed, she had tears in her eyes, "He isn't telling us for a reason. You know Alec, if we go to him, he'll run. He has to come to us." She shifted, so she was laying down in his lap. "What do we do?"

"You know Alec better than us; I think your idea is best. He'll run if we confront him and that won't do anyone any good." Jace frowned and then thought better of it, "No, let me talk to him." He began playing with her hair, he knew that would relax her and that was what she needed right now.


	6. Sunday Afternoons

**Chapter 6 – Sunday Afternoons**

Alec decided staying home was a bad idea so Sunday he woke up early, not shocked that Magnus had never come to bed. He got Max up and out the door before Magnus woke or at least stayed in Raphael's room until he left with Max. He wasn't hundred percent sure what he was going to do but he started with breakfast. He took Max to his favorite pancake place where Max asked three times where Magnus and Raphael were. He tried all three times to just tell him they were having a day only the two of them. Breakfast felt nice, he didn't realize how much he missed spending time with just him and Max until they were here. He couldn't remember the last time he got to just eat with Max. He loved having Magnus and Raphael or his siblings around but he forgot what it felt like to just have Max to himself. Coloring on the kids menu and listening to Max go a mile a minute on whatever little kid story he had to share. He spent more time watching and talking to Max then he did eating, he just wasn't hungry.

His phone buzzed as they were leaving, Alec waited to check the message after he strapped Max in his booster seat. It was from Magnus, asking where they were. He choose to call instead of text.

" _You left without saying goodbye." Was his greeting._

"I thought you were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you. I know how much you like your sleep on the weekends." Alec sat there, watching Max in the rearview mirror. He held a sad smile that the thought of Magnus not coming to bed the night before. His insides were burning. "You get cranky." Alec pressed his hand to his side.

" _True. Alexander, I-"_

"Let's not do this now." Alec rushed out, hearing that serious sound in his name froze him to the core, "You wanted to spend the day with Raphael. Let's relax and have fun with our kids." Alec tried to swallow but it was hard with what felt like glue in his throat, he just wanted to follow Magnus' wishes but it was breaking his heart because he made them this way. Last night he spent hours tossing around the empty bed, he was exhausted but couldn't bear the sight of Magnus in pain right now, or hear the pain in his voice. He was in and out of his bed all night with the debate on going to get Magnus to come to bed and respect his wishes to not be in their bed. Ultimately, he decided to respect his wishes and try to sleep without him. It was tough, Alec didn't realize how much he had come to rely on Magnus being there to use as a pillow or just to hear him breath. "We can talk tonight. Face to face."

" _I honestly didn't mean to fall asleep; I just wanted to cool off."_

"It's okay Magnus, I understand." Alec didn't, but he was trying. "I- uhm-"

" _Alec, stop." Magnus sighed into the phone, "I love you. Enjoy your time with Max. Come home for dinner. We can still have a family dinner even without your siblings."_

Alec closed his eyes; he had forgotten this was family fun day, so it was a good thing he also forgot his siblings weren't be making it this week. That would have been awkward if he didn't show up. "I'll make whatever you want."

" _Surprise me. Love you."_

He was saved from answering by the click of the end button. He didn't like that. He wanted to return his 'love you'.

Pizza.

He knew Magnus would want pizza. That would be his surprise; he would make him homemade pizza. He always complained that Michigan pizza never compared to pizza from the City but Magnus still requested it all the time so Alec made it for him all he wanted.

...

"So did you magically know I wanted to talk to you or what?" Jace smirked as he allowed Alec and Max into his apartment. "Clary's in bed sleeping, so you have to be quiet."

"Can I go see her? I'm tired." Max stifled a yawn against his stuffed cat.

Alec frowned, "I just asked if you wanted to go home for a nap and you were bouncing off my car walls."

Jace smiled, "Come on." He picked Max up and quietly carried him into his bedroom, Clary was only half asleep and accepted him into bed with a sleepy nod. Jace returned to the living room to see Alec had already taken a coke from the fridge and was hanging out on his couch.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah, and now that I'm holding your kid hostage you can't run away." Jace got his own drink and took a seat in the armchair to get a better look at his brother. He was looking rough around the edges; his clothes didn't seem as neat as they usually would and his hair was all over the place even more so than normal. His brother looked restless and sleep deprived.

Alec frowned at Jace, "Well, this should be good. What's up brother dearest?"

"There's a grapevine going on around here."

"Yeah?" Alec kept his tone light with Jace speaking in code but it was a code they used over the years and wouldn't change him, it was all them. "Must be really good if the grapes have heard about it?"

"Yeah, I heard you have an unruly co-worker."

Alec snorted, "Clary didn't wait long."

"Did you expect her to? She's hormonal and upset. She cried herself to sleep after Izzy left last night. She's upset for you. She's upset for Magnus. And the boys." Jace put his drink on the coffee table and leaned down to look at his hands. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Alec crossed one leg over the other and stared at the bottle in his hands; he suddenly wished it was beer. Or vodka. Or. Both.

Jace frowned at him then, really taking him in, "You look like hell." Alec looked at him, staring him down but no words came to mind. "We all love you and want what's best for you. Dealing with this by doing nothing is a bad idea."

"You know, I can leave Max here and you can bring him home." Alec stood up, clearly wanting this to end.

"I could call the cops and they could bring him home as well." When that got no reaction, Jace went for the kill, "Or I could call Raj and Lydia."

Alec sat down again, "You wouldn't dare." Jace didn't know the panic button that those words sent off in Alec, the burn flared straight up his stomach to his throat. If he didn't calm down he was going to throw up all over his shoes. There was no way for Jace to know that panic existed, no one did, except for Magnus. Magnus knew everything.

"Try me." Jace glared at him. "Just listen to me for a minute. I'll say my peace and be done. I won't bring it up again until you say something to me. But you have to listen to me."

Alec didn't say anything just nodded and looked him over. The burn he felt in his stomach was becoming permanent and affecting his ability to eat and sleep. Jace was right, he wasn't looking good and he knew it. His stress was literally eating away at his stomach. Even before his fight with Magnus a week ago, it was beginning to affect him. Lydia's return was to blame. Or that was the lie Alec was telling himself to keep the blame off himself.

"You can not sit by and do nothing. If he's doing it to you, he's doing it to others or has done it to others. And after you, there will be another. And another. Do you really want someone else to feel the way you do right now?" Jace didn't want to be the mature one, that was Alec's job. He had no idea what he was really doing and it scared him. Scared him that Alec wasn't able to fix this. Their dynamic wasn't this kind and it was freaking him out. He knew he had to be there for his brother at all times, the same why Alec had always been there for him but this was hard. He didn't know how Alec was this person all the time.

"I know. I've thought of that."

"Then what are you doing?"

"I have no idea." Alec let a tear slip down his face, "No clue. I know its wrong but I can't bring myself to say anything because I have a job to do and I hate the fact that this will get around work and possibly ruin my career. I'm not stupid, I know this stress is killing my family but I still can't bring myself to say anything."

"You're embarrassed. It's not that hard to figure out." Jace moved over to the couch to sit with Alec, "You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You haven't done anything wrong."

"Hey, boys. We can't sleep." Clary came out of the bedroom with Max and his stuffed animal in her arms.

"Daddy?" Max's voice seemed a little smaller than usual.

Alec knew that tone. "Whiny Max, making an appearance." Alec took Max from her arms. "What's wrong? Wanna go nap at home?

"Why are you crying?" Max asked with a frown, "Want a hug and kiss to feel better? It always makes me feel better." Alec brought Max to him, bringing him into a tight hug. "Daddy, you're squishing me."

"But you said a hug makes everything better." Alec pulled back with a smile then he started tickling him which Jace got involved in until Max screeched loud enough to wake the dead, then they stopped.

They all spent another hour hanging out until Jace had to get ready for work and Clary was prepared for another nap. Alec left and felt it was time to head home. The burn in his stomach had been aided by a brick in his chest; he could barely breathe anymore. Max was picking up on his stress and it was starting to bring his child down. Everything in his life was begin affected by his embarrassment to come forward. Work productivity was a cop out, he was embarrassed and barely knew what to do anymore.

…

Jace was on his lunch from work but the ordinary world's dinner time, he was exhausted with his mind racing all day with thoughts of his family, more so about Alec and Magnus then him and Clary. Clary was either extraordinarily hyper or extremely tired; there was no in between lately. Today was the tired, and that included himself. He was sitting outside a small diner in the parking lot of his work; he narrowed his eyes. "Hey." He stood up and went straight for the couple leaving the diner, "You." He went up to the couple and glared at them. "Raj, such a pleasure."

"Jace?" Raj looked him over, "It's been a while."

"Four years, give or take." He glanced over Lydia; he had never actually met her before everything happened. "Lydia?" He asked while looking her over.

"Ah, yes, uhm-" Raj turned towards Lydia, "Lydia, this is Jace, Alec's younger brother. Jace, this is my wife, Lydia."

"Jace." She smiled at him, holding out her hand.

Jace didn't take it, "You know Alec told us the truth." He never moved his eyes from Raj. "I mean he's gay and randomly came home with a newborn."

"I know. Well, I knew he would." Raj didn't know what to do with his eyes or his hands, he kept eyeing everything but Lydia or Jace, but hands he shoved in the front pockets of his jeans.

Jace just narrowed his eyes, he wasn't sure what he was thinking going over to him, but when he saw him, he didn't think, "I hated you in high school, Alec was too good to be your friend. You use to hand onto his every word, he was your only friend." He smirked at the look on Raj's face. "It's hard to say anything though, I can't really complain about your asinine mistakes because that mistake gave me the greatest little nephew."

"Look, Jace, I don't think this is a conversation we should be having."

Jace grinned, "You're an idiot." He stepped up to him, "You two think you can just do whatever you want and have no consequences. Do you even care?"

"Of course I care." Raj frowned, "I'm no father. Alec was always the mature one."

"So that gives you the right dump everything on him." Jace shook his head, "If you even think about taking Max away, you won't have to worry about Alec or Magnus because I pound you into the ground myself."

Raj and Lydia just stared at him.

"Yes, that was a threat for physical violence. Leave our family alone. You can burn in hell for all I care."

Raj looked over Jace without a word, that was not what he wanted to hear.

"He sounds like an ass," Lydia watched him go, "but he has a nice one."

Raj rolled his eyes, "Yes, check out the ass of the man who just told me to burn in hell." He groaned, "I need to go speak to Alec. I shouldn't have waited this long."

"I told you to go and get it over with." Lydia groaned, "Go see Alec and see the kid if you want. But we both agreed before this ever started that if we did this to Alec we would never go back." She eyed him, "If you go there and see him, then decide you want-" She glared at him, "-then we're done. I told you we would not take the kid from Alec if he took him in."

"I don't want the kid. I want to see how Alec is doing."

"He's got a boyfriend, some lawyer. Magnus Bane from New York City. Hot." She looked him up after leaving Alec's house, something in her gut told her to do it. "They are a happy little family."

Raj frowned, "I need to tell him I'm sorry. I should have done at least that a long time ago." He picked up Lydia's left hand and kissed her wedding ring. "I love you. I don't know how I got so lucky to have someone who loves me as you do, but I have to face Alec before we close on the house."

"It isn't local."

"But our parents are. We will be around from time to time, and Alec needs to know he's going to be seeing us." He pulled her into a hug.

"I love you, Raj."

"I love you too, babe."

Lydia pulled back with a half-smile, "Go see Alec, apologize or whatever you need to do but remember you come home to me." She kissed him, lightly, just to get him back to her world.

…

Alec entered the side door with Max tucked under his arm with his tiny arms out like an airplane. He grinned when he saw Magnus sitting at the kitchen table with Raphael; they were coloring. His grin faltered when he finally locked eyes with Magnus.

"Raph, I'm a plane!" Max squealed in a pitch that could have broken glass.

Alec kicked his shoes off and turned his attention to Raphael, "Yeah?" He put Max down and scoped Raphael into his arms carrying him into the living room for more space. He heard Magnus comment on Max's new shoes; he heard the distaste in his voice when he said the word crocs. He heard Max giggle and Magnus point out that he would buy him real shoes soon. "He likes the crocs."

"And some people like acid wash jeans. Both should never be worn." Magnus came into the living room with Max running in front of him; his feet were croc free.

Alec took turns spinning the kids around then getting on the floor and holding them up on his knees. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Magnus standing there the whole time, just watching. He wasn't watching the children; Alec knew Magnus was watching him.

"Alright, that's enough. Go play. We have to make dinner."

Even the boys knew the 'we' meant Alec because Magnus' cooking skills ended with mac and cheese and frozen chicken nuggets.

Alec laid on the floor for a minute catching his breath when the boys toppled over him to make a mad dash for the stairs; Max had two GI Joe airplanes in his room. "That kinda hurt." Alec put his hand on his stomach. Raphael kneed him in the middle of the stomach on his way by.

"I figured they would walk around you to the stairs, not over you. Should I be worried that your only twenty-three and they wear you out so much already?" Magnus took pity on him and sat on the floor next to him; he was turned so he could face Alec. He put his hand over Alec's and gave it a squeeze. "What did you do today?"

"Pancakes, Jace and Clary's for a bit, then shopping. You?"

"We went to the zoo." Magnus sat there, staring at Alec.

Alec twisted to his side, keeping his hand intertwined with Magnus' so it now laid on his ribs, "I know you said this idea of alone time with the kids out of anger but it was a good day. I can't remember the last time it was just me and Max. It was refreshing. I love my time with you and both boys but today kind of reminded me that I need to spend some time with just Max. If that makes sense? I'm not saying it to be mean."

Magnus sighed, "It wasn't anger, it was frustration but I feel the same way. It was nice being alone with Raphael and it's nice to come home to you and Max."

"Yes, this is nice." Alec played with Magnus' hand on his side, "We should make dinner."

"Let's order in. I want to stay right here with you." Magnus heard the slight whine to his voice, the desperate need to just be with Alec.

"We can be together in the kitchen. Come on," Alec stood up bringing Magnus with him. "You can either help me cook, or I can cook and you can drink the wine."

Magnus grinned at the back of Alec's head, following him into the kitchen, "Please, let's be real."

"Right," Alec turned to finish his steps into the kitchen backward, twisting their hands together as he turned, "White or red?"

Magnus laughed, "White."

The night went on in that matter, Alec doing the cooking and Magnus doing the drinking. After dinner, Alec bathed the kids while Magnus did the dishes then they put each of their children to bed. It was a quiet night and for a moment in time, Alec forgot about Underhill and the stress that tomorrow would bring when he went into the office. The comments hadn't stopped but they decreased. He didn't tell that to Magnus but somehow he knew Magnus already knew. Magnus did comment on the lack of food Alec had at dinner, rather than eating much he shared his plate with the boys. Alec waved the comment off with his standard not hungry; he didn't want to lie and say he had food earlier because he hadn't, so he stuck with the truth. He couldn't bring himself to be hungry anymore.


	7. Bane vs Underhill

**Chapter 7 – Bane vs. Underhill**

The week passed quickly, too quickly for Magnus' liking and it was Sunday. They had skipped another family day and Magnus was in the one place he never wanted to be on a weekend or ever at this point; Alec's work. The company owners wanted to do something for their employees so once a year they set up a fun day with games and food for their entire company and their families. Magnus internally didn't want to go but as a Lead Alec would have to come and the kids were excited. It took him all of ten seconds to lay eyes on his mortal enemy, okay that was silently dramatic, Magnus thought to himself but he spent the entire first hour watching his every move with hawk-like precision. Underhill never once approached Alec but he did watch him. Underhill had his eyes on Alec almost in the same matter as Magnus had on him, the only difference was the emotion behind those looks. Magnus felt the dislike burn in him until he couldn't handle it anymore, he finally left Gina's side and went straight for Underhill. He knew he could get away with saying what he wanted without risk since Underhill would never risk his comments getting out at a work event. Magnus was going to use that to his full advantage. Without greeting, Magnus stated in.

"You're really going to tear my children from their father because you like his blue eyes." Magnus frowned at Underhill. "Look at them." Magnus pointed across the room. Alec was sitting on the floor while Max, Raphael, and Gina's little brother were all wrestling around Alec's lap. Magnus had to laugh at him all the time, he was the first person to be on the floor with the boys yet always complained when he stood up be was too old for that. Magnus would point out he wasn't even twenty-four with a laugh and move on. Today was no different, just added Gina's little brother who was only two years older than their boys. Alec currently had Raphael across his shoulder with his arms out, Magnus assuming he was making them into airplanes. There were only two people Alec put before Magnus and that was their children. It was almost heartbreaking for Magnus to watch him smiling now because he knew it wouldn't last. Alec had a deep laugh on his face that met his eyes; his blue eyes shining in the bright room. It was the first time Magnus had seen Alec happy in the last few months. They were breaking and Magnus couldn't figure out how to fix them without Alec's help.

"What?" Underhill tore his eyes away from the scene played out before him to look at the voice speaking to him. He went to Alec's house with the purpose of checking him out. He was hot, Underhill would give him that, but he was fairly certain their bond wasn't as strong as they claimed it to be.

"You think I don't know what you're doing. Alec hates your comments but he refuses to produce a bad product. He wants you on his team for work only but you just won't stop."

Underhill kept his eyes on Magnus, drilling into him with distain, "He doubts your relationship."

"Alec has never doubted us nor will he ever. He's stressed. He's breaking down because of the stress you are putting him under not because he wants you." Magnus frowned, "You don't care what you break as long as you get what you want."

Underhill smiled, "If you are really that strong then I shouldn't be able to break it."

"Everything has a breaking point, even stress. I know your type; I used to be married to your type. Just trying is enough for you." Magnus smiled with Underhill, _kill em' with kindness_ ; as the old saying went. "You'll never stop until you break him completely." It wasn't a question but a statement of fact. Magnus knew Underhill's kind, Camille fit right in the middle.

"I don't want to break him; I just want him to understand he has options."

"He doesn't want your options." Magnus held up his hand when Underhill started to speak. "If he wanted you, he wouldn't keep saying 'no' and going out of his way to avoid you." He smirked, "You should hear about our first date after just two weeks of knowing each other." Magnus went in for the cheap dig, "The hickey he left on my stomach lasted an entire week. If Alec wanted you, in anyway, then nothing would stop him from having you. That's the type of person he is. He doesn't want you."

"I'm good at getting what I want, too."

"Not this one, you're not." Magnus caught Gina's eye; she was staring at them so intently that he thought she was going to fall over. "You'll never get my husband from me. You'll never make my children cry from you breaking our home. I can promise you, if you do make my children cry, I will take you down piece by piece."

"We'll see about that." Underhill kept his smile in place for the party going around them but something in the pit of his stomach told him Magnus meant every word and he wasn't speaking in the legal sense of the words.

"I want you to think about something. Vividly." Magnus made sure to lock eyes with Underhill for his next threat, "Alec and his blue eyes are mine. He's coming home tonight. With me and our children. He's going to be in our bed. Remember that." Magnus turned away, "Leave my family the fuck alone." He walked away then, going over to Alec and their children. Alec smiled up at him with that smile he always used for him. Magnus felt for just a moment that Underhill never existed and they were not straining their relationship to its breaking point. It reminded him of his love and Magnus was ready to stand up and punch Underhill in the face. Alec told him over and over again that he ignored the comments just to do their job but Magnus felt the strain on them. It wasn't doubt, it was stress. A stress that was tearing Alec down. Magnus knew he would never cheat, never lie but Alec was breaking down. Magnus could see the depression settling within Alec and he didn't know how to fix it. Their fighting wasn't helping but he had to fight for his family. He would never give up Alec. Alec was as good as his husband and he would never end their marriage for anything.

The longer the situation went on, the more Magnus thought about asking Alec to see the therapist. His panic over Max with the fear of losing him, Raj and Lydia's return, the stress Underhill was putting him under, and his lack of communication was scaring Magnus. He was afraid Alec was going to make himself sick.

...

Alec smiled at his spot leaning against their bedroom door, Magnus was pacing around the room on the phone with Ragnor who was supposed to be coming into town next week. He booked a room at the local water park and was going to be taking Max and Raphael for the entire week. He would be close enough if needed them but far enough for them all to have fun. But from the sounds of it, that wasn't going to happen. Magnus was using his usual banter but Alec could hear the strain. Alec did have to smile at their banter; he had, finally, gotten so use to it that he enjoyed just listening to them. "Magnus?" He called to him.

Magnus looked over; he was dressed for bed in just a pair of black Nike running shorts and no shirt. "We can plan for a different time but you will be calling Raphael in the morning to tell himself yourself, but I have to go." He hung up the phone, "You're just watching me."

Alec smirked, he was so distracted by the perfect outline of Magnus' abs that he almost didn't hear Magnus speaking to him. He had a glow to his skin that was a permanent tan, one that Alec wanted to lick from his neck to his navel. "I'm stalking my fiancée." He kept his eyes roaming up and down Magnus' body, objectifying him in every possible way Alec's eyes would allow him. His cock was straining now, he needed Magnus.

"I can see that. Ragnor got called to a work offsite; he can't make it next week." Magnus threw his phone on the bed, just watching him. "The boys down?"

Alec nodded, "I checked on Raphael, he's out. Max took a little longer but he's good now. Too much candy." Alec stepped off the door jamb, closing the door behind him with a smile. "I had fun today. You, me, and the boys playing on the floor for hours. Raphael called me dad when I had him on my shoulders. I thought Gina was going to cry over it." His smile grew as his story went on.

"I've missed your smile." Magnus whispered low enough that Alec couldn't hear him, Alec came to him with a question in his eyes, "Alexander, I need you to kiss me."

Alec smirked; biting his lip. "With pleasure, Mr. Bane." And he did what Magnus wanted and kissed him. His pants becoming tighter and tighter, filling to the breaking point.

Magnus brought his hand up to the back of Alec's neck; he had to hold him in place. A part of him had this fear that Alec would back off and vanish, or fade away from him. He needed to feel Alec around him, in him, all over him. He didn't want to take it slow; he walked Alec back to the bed and pushed him when they got close enough.

Alec caught himself on his elbows, as Magnus went down to his knees in front of him. "Magnus?"

"I don't want slow tonight; I want fast." Magnus pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it over his shoulder. "Izzy's wedding was a long time ago." He had been thinking about it all day, he couldn't remember the last time they were together intimately and the only thing he could come up with was the night before Izzy and Simon's wedding.

Alec laid back and allowed Magnus to work on his jeans, lifting his hips when Magnus needed him too. Alec sat up enough to take his own shirt off while Magnus removed his own pants and boxers. Alec moved up the bed with a smirk on his face. "Let's never wait that long again." He moaned when Magnus moved up his body, kissing as he went. Alec put his hands in Magnus' hair to direct him to the spot he wanted him most; on his mouth.

Alec kept him there; he didn't want their kiss to end. He held him in place by snaking an arm around his neck. The feeling of their lips molded together, their tongues battling for dominance over one another, the lack of air was driving him forward as Magnus pulled back. Alec shifted to pull Magnus completely on top of him, bringing a knee to hook on his hip. They were touch from their mouths to their groins; the friction was doing wild things to his core. Naked against naked.

Magnus shifted his hips, thrusting against Alec.

Alec broke the kiss to hiss in pleasure, his body heating from the inside out. The burn in his stomach had changed from stressful pain to pure sexual pleasure; driving him on. This burn he wanted to drive on, he wanted the pleasure to continue in a way he had never felt before. He was aching from him the inside out with need for one thing. Magnus Bane.

Magnus gripped his hands from his side and neck pulling them roughly above their heads. Intertwining their fingers, keeping the grip tight, and effectively holding them in place. He thrust himself against him again, kissing down his jaw to his neck.

Alec kept his head back to better access to Magnus sucking on his neck. "Fuck." Alec grounded out at Magnus' third thrust. He wasn't going to make it far at this pace. He was going to channel his inner teenager self and come way too soon. "Magnus, please. More."

Magnus lifted his head to lock eyes with him. "I need to be inside you."

"Yes," Alec groaned at the loss of Magnus' weight on him. He went up on his elbows to watch Magnus pull out their lube, he shot Magnus a look, "No condom?"

"Not tonight." Magnus quickly came back to him for a kiss. "The feeling is so different; I want to feel that with you."

"I want you." Alec trusted Magnus with everything in his being and would follow him over the edge into hell is he asked him too. "I want you." He repeated again; he couldn't say it enough. His name on repeat in his brain with the feeling of their touch.

Magnus sat up on his knees, popping open the bottle, and putting some into his hand. He worked himself a few strokes to coat him evenly. Going bare meant needing a little extra lubrication to make it enjoyable for each of them. This would be their first time without a condom; they had talked about it before, well long before the stress of work kept them apart from one another and tonight was the night Magnus was taking over and dominating their pleasure. He locked eyes with Alec as he put his lubed up fingers at his hole, inserting one then quickly adding a second. He took a moment to freeze once he was inside Alec, he was going too fast and the fear of hurting Alec just for a release took over but the look on his fiancée's face was far from pain. He loved watching the pleasure play across Alec's face, moving from one stage to the other until his head got too heavy and he had to lay back. "This is going to be fast and hard."

"Yes, please." Alec's whisper could barely be heard over the rapid breathing coming from both partners.

Magnus removed his fingers and lined up his cock at Alec's hole, going slow for the initial thrust. He pulled out to the tip then back into the hilt, moving ever so slowly. His pace quickly progressed until he raised himself on his feet and to pound into him. Magnus couldn't think of anything but the end release, he was in Alec and cause the moans. The thrill of being the one to entice those types of sounds were driving him. It had been too long and the bare feeling of filling Alec was driving him wild.

Alec bit his cheek to keep his groaning as quiet as possible; he put his hands up against the headboard to keep his head from hitting it. He was too close to the wooden board but he dare not ask to move down the bed, the feeling of being pounded into the bed was too great. If they stopped, Alec would have gone insane. He needed them to keep up the pace; he needed this feeling of being whole. He missed Magnus and their sincere expressions of love they always had in the bedroom and beyond. Feeling all of Magnus was driving him so close to that edge, he was going to come to without being touched; he was so close. "Magnus, I can't-"

"Then don't." Magnus got the hint and went back to his knees, putting a hand on Alec's hip and the other on Alec's shaft, jerking him hard and fast; the lube still being enough to slick him as to not hurt Alec. He had sweat rolling down his back the heat from the room and radiating off their bodies were going to send him into a stroke. They were so hot.

Alec couldn't last any longer and cranked his neck as far back as he could, turning his head to bit down on his pillow to mute his scream, it was beyond moaning and groaning at this point. He couldn't hold back, shooting hot ribbons of cum on his stomach and chest, the climax was hard and high. His felt the dizziness intermixed with lack of air and the heat, he was on the brick of passing out..

Magnus pulled out of Alec, jerking himself off the rest of the way to come on Alec's stomach. He fell forward landing on Alec, both limp, and slick from the semen and sweat.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Magnus." Alec wrapped his arms around his shoulder's holding him in place. "If we woke up the kids, I will die. I can't move right now."

Magnus laughed, "You can't move. I can't move and we are covered in sweat and each other." He went to adjust their position but Alec held him in place.

"I don't care about cleaning up. I'll wash the sheets tomorrow."

"Alec," Magnus sighed, he was finally feeling himself coming down from his erotic high.

"I haven't had you in my arms enough lately; I can't be without you." Alec rolled them, so they were on their sides, "Don't leave me."

"Never." Magnus closed his eyes, just enjoying the feeling of being naked with Alec. The intense climax still left his limbs limp and unmovable; turning him into liquid.

"Fuck me." Alec couldn't bring his heart rate down; he felt like he could die a happy man. He had been fucked into his next life.

"Oh baby, I just did but give me a half hour and I'll do it again," Magnus smirked, finally having enough strength to snake an arm up under Alec's neck to bring them even closer.

"No in a half hour, I'm fucking you."

Magnus kiss Alec's chest, tasting them and the salty sweat they were still coated in. Alec usually wasn't the one for the dirty talk and Magnus knew he was going to be ready in less than a half hour at this rate. He closed his eyes and let himself come further down from his high.

...

"I did something without talking to you and I need to tell you about it now." Alec looked down at Magnus; he was leaning against their headboard while Magnus laid on his pillow with an arm across Alec's legs. It was almost three in the morning and they spent the last five hours wrapped up in each other; making up for lost time. They spent most of their time bringing themselves over the edge again and again. Both had lost track of whose turn it was for what or how many times they came, they just kept up bringing each other over the edge; again and again. Alec was going to be sore in the morning; he definitely knew walking straight was going to be a problem. "I applied for a Team Leader position with another company, Kane Services. They called me two days ago for a second interview. It would mean less money but it would also be less- stress." He paused before stress and they both were aware of what that stress meant.

Magnus sat up, the sheet falling to their laps, they were both still naked and sweaty from their last round of lovemaking. Their sheets were a nightmare and as sweat stained as they were. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, including my own. This company showed interest in me in the past and I kind of wanted to hear back before saying anything." Alec frowned, "It is a pay cut."

"I don't care about the money." Magnus put a hand on Alec's cheek, "I've got money. I care about you being happy. Is this what you want?"

"No," Alec couldn't breathe, "I love my company but I love you more and I can't stay there. I feel like every day is a nightmare and a nightmare I made."

"Alec, you have to do what's best for you and our family. If you don't want to leave the company then talk to HR, get him off your team." Magnus gave him a light kiss, "I'll help you."

Alec frowned, he felt the tears. "It's gone on too long. You were right; I was stupid."

"No, stop. I shouldn't have said that. I was stressed with my own work and I picked a fight with you." Magnus pulled Alec to him; he felt the tears on his bare shoulder. "It's okay. We are going to be okay."

"Are we?" Alec pulled back, "I see the way you look at me. You don't like being in the same room with me anymore. I haven't brought a smile to your face in what feels like months. I'm ruining our bond because I put work before my family."

"Alec-" Magnus stopped himself, he didn't know what to say, Alec's actions or lack of action took a toll on them. They would make it through to the other side but they needed to work on it. "I love you. You make me smile. Last week when you made dinner and I drank the wine, I smiled the whole time." He did smile for him then. "I've been smiling all evening. We hit a bump, nothing more."

"You need to know I've never thought about him or entertained any of his ideas or advancements. Not once did I doubt us."

"I know." Magnus kiss him again, he wanted to pour all his feelings into Alec, "I know you. Better than anyone. I know if you had, you would have ended us. You might run when you don't know what to do but you would never stay out of guilt. But you are fighting for us. You are willing to leave a job you love to keep us whole. That says everything I need to know."

"I'll go to HR this week. I should try to let my company handle it before I leave." Alec suddenly felt so drained, they were up way too late for a Sunday evening and now a Monday morning. He couldn't stop himself, at the moment he knew it would be hell for his sleep but he finally had Magnus in his arms with a smile on his face. He didn't care how much coffee he would need to make it through Monday he was not going to end their time together. "Magnus?" Alec came down to laying almost on top of him.

"Yeah?"

"Nothing." Alec settled on Magnus' chest, "I don't wanna close my eyes."

Magnus kissed the top of Alec's head, "Sleep."


	8. Breaking Point

**Author's Note:**

So the next couple of chapters were very difficult to write; I invest a lot of time, effort, and emotion into my stories and I did get emotional writing this. This is my notice for anyone (without giving spoilers) that there is difficult content in this chapter which might make it hard to read. I hope you all still love me.

 **Chapter 8 – Breaking Point**

"Thanks, Gina." Alec folded her into a tight hug, "What would I do without you?"

"Be a lost soul." She smiled, hitting him on the arm after he pulled back. "Will and Jem have agreed they are not fond of Underhill either, so HR had no choice but to move him to another area of the company. He's being called up here as we speak. The change will be effective as of tomorrow morning. Magnus will be happy."

"I haven't told him yet. We finally got it together this weekend but lately, we basically catering to the children." Alec rubbed a hand over his eyes, "I'm so exhausted I could sleep for a week." He left out the part where he only got two hours of sleep on Sunday and the last few days have lagged ever since.

"I know Magnus was just worried for you."

"I waited too long and now he won't even look at me without this pain on his face. I know it's because he's worried and sees me stressed out but he's been sleeping in Raphael's room more then I like to think about. The last couple of nights have been good. Sunday was good. It all faded away and I got to be with Magnus, just us." Alec sighed, "Our kids even think we're breaking up. They asked if Magnus and Raphael were leaving."

"Listen, you are the victim and you just got sidetracked by trying to be a good employee. It happens. Magnus is only fighting with you because he loves you. He doesn't want you to be in situations like this." Gina pulled on his arm to get him to look at her. "What are you scared of?"

"Honestly?" Alec didn't wait for her response. "That Magnus is already out the door. I know he's not but I haven't made things easy. Not when we started dating and not now."

"That's impossible. Magnus understands the situation and he's just upset that you are being put in this situation and won't get yourself out of it."

Alec frowned, "You've been talking to Magnus, haven't you?" He didn't need a verbal response; her guilty expression was all the answer he needed. "Jesus Christ, Gina!" He didn't yell or raise his voice but he spoke with force but then he felt the overwhelming defeat, he couldn't keep anything together. "Let me know when it's done. I'm going back to my office." He could feel his insides turn.

Alec went to leave the conference room and walked out at the wrong time, he heard Underhill in the main office, annoyed at the change of duty. He met his eye then continued on as if he never saw him. He was done with this place. He had already let Gina know, privately, he had accepted another interview and was willing to leave the company if nothing was done. Luckily one other person had complained about Underhill in their same department, so he was being moved to another side of the company. This was his first strike, two more and he was fired unless he did something truly horrible.

The rest of the morning seemed to go by in a flash; Alec hadn't left his office all day. He kept the door shut and his music going. Will and Jem stopped by the discuss the new teams which would be announced tomorrow; they met for an hour. To Alec's surprise they didn't say anything about the situation for the change, they each gave him a knowing look but that was all. They left almost an hour ago and he had been alone ever since. He was already missing lunch but he would just grab something later. He didn't feel like eating, his insides were still tight with panic. He called Magnus twice but he did have to be in court today, so he didn't know when he was going to get a reply.

He just sat his phone down for the third time when his office door opened and closed without a knock and before he could say anything Underhill was in his office.

"You requested a change of teams."

"No, I told them you are harassing me, they suggested the change of departments since they can't fire you and nobody else on this floor wants you." Alec stood up. "I told you the comments were inappropriate and you needed to stop but you wouldn't. You need to leave now." Alec stepped around the desk but Underhill stepped up to him, putting his hand on Alec's cheek and leaned into him. Alec pushed him hard, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Underhill stepped back but not far. He waited for Alec to get around him, he knew Alec was going for the door, so he grabbed Alec's upper arm using all his force to turn him around, pushing his back against the wall with a hard thud. "Not so fast. You could have me. What makes Magnus so great?" He stepped up close to him, pushing against him.

Alec's mind blanked, his vision blurred, and the sounding pouring in his ears felt like a freight train. What was happening to him; he couldn't breathe. Underhill was too close; much too close. He could smell him, nothing like Magnus. He smelled like flowers while Magnus smelled woodsy. He could hear his heartbeat, nothing like Magnus. It was rapid with his shallow breathing. Underhill's breath was all around him. Nothing about this was right. Alec's breathing came in short burst, there was an instant flash in his stomach. "Back off." He raised his hands to push but Underhill pushed against him, thrusting his hips against Alec; pressing himself hard into Alec.

"Can't you feel how much I want you? What you do to me? You make me this hard."

Alec wanted to throw up, he slammed his eyes shut. He couldn't keep them open. This wasn't happening repeated over and over and over again in his head. His hands didn't seem to have any strength in them anymore.

"Look at me, I want to see those blue eyes."

"Get the fuck off." Alec pushed hard but Underhill twisted slightly to gain the upper hand again, he leaned in close, his mouth against his ear. Underhill put a hand on Alec's cheek but Alec twisted. He couldn't get a grip on him, "Get off." His insides were turning, he was going to be sick. He needed to get away but his insides had him frozen, he was losing his mind. "Get off."

"Magnus has nothing on me."

"He has everything on you," Gina stated from her spot on the door.

Alec pushed as hard as he could not noticing Gina had entered the room, "Get away from me." Alec's words mixing with Gina's as they spoke at the same time.

Underhill's shock allowed Alec the force he needed to get him back. Alec sunk to the ground against the wall, his legs going out from underneath him, he caught himself on his hands before hitting the carpet beneath him. His stomach twisted in knots the second he hit the hard floor. The world was spinning and everything was fading. He felt like he was going to pass out.

"Will!" Gina called from her spot in the doorway; she had just seen him walk past. He came to her at once, "I need your help. Call security. Clark attacked Alec." She stepped into the room going towards Alec at the same time Underhill righted himself and made a step forward. Gina shoved him back but she didn't have to do much because Will stepped in to grab his arm while Jem came into the office. It didn't take much to get him moving with Will and Jem each pulling on an arm.

"Alec?" She sat on the floor with him, "Alec? Are you okay?"

He nodded, the room was spinning and he couldn't even breathe. "-gonna thro-"

Gina reached around for his trash can and handed it to him just in time; she saw he was white and not breathing well. He lost what little food he had for breakfast. The tears started then. He couldn't stop them. The embarrassment was pouring out of him in the form of the tears down his cheeks.

"Oh, Alec," She leaned forward to pull his head to her shoulder and cried with him. "It's okay. It will be okay." She repeated over and over again while rubbing his back. She wanted to call Magnus but this was now a big deal, she was legally obligated not to say anything. She would have to wait for Alec to calm down to see what he wanted to do. The word would spread like wildfire throughout the company. Underhill attack Alec. Underhill sexual harassed Alec. There were too many people in the Training and Development bullpen. She knew Alec wanted to keep this quiet and she would do her best but things like this had a way of getting out in small companies, no matter what HR did to handle it. The sight of Alec pinned between the wall and Underhill would be burned into her brain for a long time to come.

Will and Jem pulled Underhill out of the office and waited with him in his cube until security could be brought up. They would all be interviewed for witness statements.

Gina didn't leave Alec's side for over an hour until her boss forced her out. Gina took his trash can with her; it was the least she could do to help. She felt horrible for not self-reporting on Underhill months ago when she got the wrong vibe from him. But bad vibes weren't enough, she spoke up last week but it wasn't enough at the time.

It was just Tessa, Will, Jem, and Alec in his office now. Alec was still on the floor, his only movement was his breathing and rubbing his hands through his hair. Over and over again. The mess of his dark locks were now even more tangled.

Tessa didn't ask a lot of questions, mainly they sat there for a long while just staring at him. Will and Jem kept looking at each other then back to Alec, then to Tessa, in a round robin loop, "Alec, are you okay? Do you want to go to the hospital or-" It was Tessa that spoke up but he didn't look at her, he wasn't looking at anyone. "I know Gina reported him last week and you reported him this morning. He left the HR office angry. He was told to wait in the hall because he was not allowed on this floor without a member of HR but obviously he didn't listen."

"Alec, man, I'm sorry this happened. What can I do?" It was Will who spoke up.

By this time, it was already close to his end of the day. "I have to get the kids tonight, Magnus has court. Can I leave now? I don't want them to see me like this." Alec looked up at Tessa; his eyes were bloodshot red and swollen. He couldn't stop himself from shaking and he wasn't sure how he was even going to stand up off the floor, his legs felt like liquid. He wasn't sure how he was going to make it home either but he had to get the kids, he had no one else at the moment the help him.

"Sure, Will and Jem are going to walk you to your car. Take the rest of the week off. Don't worry about anything here." Tessa stood up to watch Alec but he wasn't moving. "Should we call Magnus?"

Alec whipped his head up to focus on her, "NO!" He sighed, "No. I mean, no, no thank you." He looked away at their looks. "Not yet."

"Alec, how long has this been going on?"

"Please, I need to leave. It's in my report."

Tessa nodded, "Alright, go. But I will be calling you and if you don't answer, I will come by the house or send the police. Please just answer for me, okay?" She waited for his nod, "You two take him to his car and I want you to get your teams under control. Everyone on this floor will be interviewed and I want honest answers with the rumor mill going insane. Do you hear me?" She got each of their nods then left with one last look back to Alec. They got a few answers from him when Gina was sitting next to him but now that she was gone, he clammed up and wouldn't speak.

Alec looked at Will, "My legs are asleep. I might fall over." He laughed a small, ironic laugh.

Will stepped forward then knelt down, "Don't worry buddy, I'll take pictures and laugh before helping you up."

Alec smiled at him, "I bet you would." With their typical banter in place, it felt like a warm wave had covered him, something was normal. One thing was normal.

Will took his hand and helped him up, his legs were liquid and he was forced against the wall for a few minutes while feeling returned to his entire body. He didn't realize how numb he was until he had to move again. The tiny tingling's ran throughout his legs.

"You want us to drive you home?" Jem asked, he had the misfortune to start on the same day as Underhill but he quickly became a part of the team.

"How hard would it be to get out of here with no one noticing?" Alec asked while he finally moved around to his desk. He needed to get his laptop and bag.

Will looked outside his open door. There weren't many people milling about but Tessa was talking to a member of the security staff. "They will see."

Alec nodded and finished with his bag. "Jem, could you stay? I would rather it just be Will and I. I would like it to look less obvious. I'm sorry, I-"

Jem nodded and went to pat Alec on the back but he stepped so far away he almost collided with the wall. "Oh my god, I'm sorry. I didn't think. It was just a pat on the back. Sorry."

"It's okay. I just need a day or two." Alec responded, his heart stuck in his throat. He let his guard down and Underhill got the best of him and now his guard was way up.

Alec made the long trek to his car, Will beside him the whole way neither saying a word until Alec got in his call and Will said to call him the second he got home, Alec just nodded and drove off to get his kids. He really needed the safety of his normal life back. He thought better of it and swung home first. He ended up crying the whole way home. He had never cried so much in his life. He needed a shower and he knew he was going to throw up again. He felt himself focusing on the way Underhill felt against him. The same thought kept replaying in his mind; Underhill was turned on. Underhill was turned on and aroused by forcing him against the wall. Underhill got off on hurting him and forcing himself. The more he thought about it, the worse it became. He had to pull off and throw up in a parking lot before making it home. He needed to hurry and get the kids; he needed them loud so his brain would stop the repeat.

...

Alec finished the dishes, went to take out the trash but Magnus' voice stopped him. He was in the basement working out but Alec knew he quit a while ago when his phone rang. He was going to go down there and talk to him as soon as the trash went out the door, Magnus still hadn't heard of the events of the day and Alec needed to tell him before he found out from elsewhere but he came home to the kids running around then Magnus went to work out and Alec was going to join him but the tone of his voice made him freeze.

" _I know, Ragnor, it's okay."_

Alec frowned, he took a step down then froze again.

" _I think it's too soon." There were a few murmured words Alec couldn't hear the ones that made his insides freeze. "We moved too fast. Alec and I-"_

Alec heard enough; he went back to his chores. One step at a time, taking out the trash first. Then, he didn't know but he would find something. He felt a few tears coming, controlling his emotions was not happening today. He thought better of it all and went to the fridge. He pulled out three bottles of beer, downing the first one right away then going to the second downing it just as fast as the first. And the third. He had to shower.

He needed to burn his skin off, the feeling of Underhill anywhere around him made him want to throw up. He had already done that more than enough times today.

Magnus came up the stairs, just to see Alec going in for his fourth beer, he appeared to finish half of it in one swallow. He eyed the line up on the counter and took the beer out of Alec's hand after he swallowed the first drink. "Drinking for a reason?" He asked, finishing the beer for Alec. "On a Wednesday night?"

"I need a shower." Alec blinked, he never ate dinner, his stomach too upset for food, and he missed lunch. Alec was starting to feel the beer hit his system straight on. "I missed lunch and dinner." He blinked again, a little unsure of how he was speaking. He had already showered twice, once when he woke up and once when he swung home before getting to daycare. His second shower was so hot he was still red when he picked up the kids almost an hour later. He felt like he needed to peel his skin off.

"Alec?" Magnus sat the empty beer bottle down and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Did you have all those beers and no food?" Worry shot across his brow.

"Yes," He closed his eyes, "Bad idea." He left a tear roll down his cheek.

"Very." Magnus kissed his jaw, "Let's get you upstairs. You can tell me what's wrong." He wiped the tear away, none other followed it.

"Shower, I have to shower." Alec twisted in his arm.

Magnus nodded, "I'm sweaty and your hot." He saw the red rising on Alec's neck and face; he was going to overheat at this point, "I think a shower is a good idea." He turned him so he could get better control of him. "Why did you drink that much?"

"Bad idea," Alec repeated. He felt his skin starting to crawl with the feeling of someone else touching him. He reiterated that he was safe over and over in his head. He saw Magnus' smile and his insides began to slow down. For the first time all day he felt, he felt his insides stop burning and churning with the need to throw up. He was safe. He was with Magnus. He closed his eyes, Magnus might think they didn't belong together anymore but Alec did. He just needed to breathe and it might be alright again. Deep inside he knew he was overthinking everything but he couldn't make up the sadness in Magnus' voice. But he was safe. His skin stopped crawling and his need to throw up over being touch had faded. Magnus was his savior and he didn't even know it. "Lightweight." Alec whispered to himself, and to Magnus who could barely hear him.

Magnus smiled, "I see that, you can't even stand straight. Let's go, my love."

...

Alec sat in the hospital waiting room with Max on one side of him and Raphael on the other side. He couldn't get a hold of Magnus and Clary had gone into labor, so the boys had to come with him to the hospital. He packed them some toys and some books they seemed to be okay for now but it had only been thirty minutes. There was still time for them to become bored and become total nightmare for the entire hospital staff. He doubted they would, he had good kids but being cooped up in a hospital had odd effects on people. He knew Magnus was in court again today but he was hoping he would get here any minute. He did have to be proud of their boys, they were becoming such smart children and now knew when to behave better in public places and less like toddlers. They were 'big' kids now and if you didn't believe it all you had to do was ask them; they would tell you.

Simon walked up to them and took a seat next to Raphael, "Go see Clary, I got them."

"You two be good. No conning Uncle Simon into anything." He pointed at both the boys but they had a look in their eyes, they were going to steamroll Simon into something. "Simon, whatever they ask for besides the bathroom, it's 'no', got it." Alec kissed Max then Raphael. Alec made his way to his siblings and thankfully his phone rang as he was halfway down the hallway, "Magnus, I've been waiting for you."

" _Sorry, court ran long. Clary?"_

"Went into labor. We're at the hospital. The boys are in the waiting room with Simon but they had their devil horns out. They are going to crush his soul and him into a million little pieces." Alec had to laugh, Max and Raphael took turns running the show on Simon, Jace, and Izzy. It was almost too cute to stop because the three never got stern with the boys. They allowed themselves to be steamrolled. He and Magnus already decided if they were going to be adult figures they would need to step up and learn how to be more than the 'fun' ones. Alec had talked to all three of them on more than one occasion; it was up to them to step up or continue to get run over.

" _Great, poor Simon. I have to drop my files and computer at the office; I'll be there in like an hour with traffic."_

"See you soon."

...

"Dad!"

"Dad number 2."

Both the boys called out to him at the same time, he quirked an eye at Max's 'dad number 2', that had randomly started a few days ago and he never stopped it. He and Alec didn't know how to stop it or even if they should; that discussion had been left unfinished.

Magnus was much later than he planned, his boss was waiting for him in his office then there was an accident in the major intersection to get into the hospital. He looked at Simon and he looked a little worse for wear. "Hey, guys. What happened to Uncle Simon?"

"Nothing." Raphael answer at the same time Max shrugged.

"I don't believe either of you." Magnus looked at them sternly, "We will be having a talk about this at home with possible toy removal and a timeout chair."

"They didn't do anything, honestly. I just don't like hospitals and I've been here too long for my liking." Simon cut in with a gray hue to his skin. "Bit of a germaphobe, actually."

Magnus pointed at Simon but kept his eyes on his children, "I don't believe you either." He finally looked to Simon, "What's the room number? I would like to check on them before I take the boys home."

"2700. Around the corner to the right." Simon pointed the way to him.

Magnus nodded then knelt down, eyeing both his children again, "You both have a look you are about to do something wrong. Keep yourselves controlled until I get back. Got it?"

Max giggled at him while Raphael nodded, "Yes, dad."

Magnus bobbed them both on the head and took off with a smile. Alec was right; those two a definitely up to something. He would deal with them later but right now he wanted to see Alec. He around the corner of Clary's room and froze in place. His fiancée was sitting in a rocking chair along the far side of the room with a tiny baby in his arms. Alec didn't say how close Clary was to delivering her son. The blanket was blue with a small rainbow color beanie on top. Magnus smiled with the flashback of holding Raphael after his born. He was a day past being considered a preemie and he was tiny. They had his wrapped in a blue blanket with a blue hat and those white gloves they put on babies to keep from starching themselves. Magnus never knew what love at first sight felt like until he looked at his son. Raphael Bane his tiny little man and he missed how small Raphael was when he was born.

Izzy came up to him, "I'm going to get Simon. He doesn't like hospitals. Want me to take the boys for food?" Izzy currently had the pair of booster seats that she and Clary passed back and forth for when they were babysitting the boys.

Magnus nodded, "If you wouldn't mind. I think they are getting restless." He pulled out his wallet and handed her some money. She tried to refuse but Magnus pushed the money in her hand went into the room not giving her another chance to say no. Jace was sitting on the edge of Clary's bed while she was laid back, both staring at Alec. He smirked, no one had seen him yet. "Now, this is a beautiful sight." They all looked up at him. Alec sitting there holding baby was a complete and utter turn on, thinking that someday he would get his own baby with Alec was going to drive him over the edge right there in the hospital room.

Clary laughed and Jace groaned, "That's gross."

Magnus ignored him, looking at Clary, "Congrats." She nodded but he went to Alec, he knelt on the ground on one knee to look at him, "What's his name?"

"Christopher Alexander Lightwood," Clary answered, with a massive smile. She and Jace kept it a secret that they were going to name him after Alec.

Alec looked at Clary and Jace with shock and awe across his face, "What?"

"You have helped raise Jace and me since we were teenagers, you are my best friend. It only made sense." Clary smiled, she was on cloud night. Her family was finally complete. She and Jace spoke about children so much over the years. All of her dreams had finally come true.

"Thank you; he's perfect." Alec went back to staring down at him. Something felt so right to him to have a baby in his arms. He was always the mature one, the parental one, which he couldn't complain. He loved kids and holding his nephew made him want another one. He kind of sat up straighter with Magnus so close to him. He wanted to lean over and kiss him, reassure himself that Magnus wanted him. Reassure himself that Magnus was real and not gone, and he wasn't going to hurt him.

Magnus put a hand on his little head and grinned, "I don't know, he looks a little too much like Jace."

"Ouch, Bane, ouch." Jace grinned at him.

Magnus winked and went back to paying all his attention to Alec and baby Christopher. "I love babies." He ignored Jace, "They are soft and cuddly and squishy." He ran a single finger down his check when he squirmed in Alec's arms.

"He's hungry," Alec spoke.

Clary frowned, "How can you tell?"

Alec smirked, "Trust me."

"Alec is the child whisperer when it comes to feeding our boys." Magnus sort of frowned at him, in deep thought over his statement. "It's like he has magical powers."

As if on cue the nurse stepped into the room, "Alright everyone out except the husband, time to show mom how to feed her baby."

Alec winked at her; he handed the nurse his nephew. He went over and kissed Clary on the cheek and hugged Jace, "We're heading out. Have a good night and call if you need anything otherwise we'll be back in the morning."

Magnus held out his hand to Alec; he waited until they were in the hall before pulling him close, twisting their arms around Alec's back. He pulled them to the side of the long hallway; there was no one around them. "Izzy took the kids and Simon to dinner. We are alone for a little while."

Alec nodded, but his smile faded, "I wanted a baby with you." He couldn't help but think of the conversation he heard the day before. It was one-sided but Magnus' words radiated in his head. Magnus telling Ragnor they moved too fast. The small voice in his head told him to stop overreacting, the conversation was one sided and could have meant anything; but Alec wasn't listening to that small voice.

The past tense made Magnus want to tense up, "Wanted?" Magnus frowned, "You don't anymore?"

Alec looked at him, "Do you?" He didn't know what else to say, "Do you want one with me?"

"Yes," Magnus smirked at the slow build smile on Alec's face. "Let's go. You pick up dinner on the way home; I have to get gas. Meet at home and let's finish this conversation."

"Wait?" Alec pulled back on Magnus' hand to bring him back close but Magnus miss stepped at the force of Alec's tug and stepped too close, pushing Alec into the wall. Alec kissed him, really kissed him. He ignored the cold wall against his back and the feeling of the cold back on his back from the day before. This was Magnus. He was safe.

Alec needed to kiss him; he spent every moment he could in the last day kissing him. He wanted to remember Magnus on his skin. Push out the bad memories and replace with the good. He did wake up slightly hungover this morning, who knew three and a half beers on an empty stomach could be so rough the next day but he had the next few days off so what did it matter. He told Magnus the truth on that one, Tessa awarded him the rest of the week off as a paid vacation. She had called and done a lengthy interview with him that morning when the kids were in daycare. She warned him the call was recorded for HR purposes or he could come in for a face to face with recording, it was up to him. He choose the phone, he didn't want her to see him messed up like he knew he was going to get. He showered after the phone call was over and stayed in the shower for a half hour longer than was needed.

Their kiss lasted all of fifteen seconds but it was enough to get them going, "I want a bigger family with you. I want us." Alec responded.

"You already have us. We just need the bigger family." Magnus licked his lips, resting both of his hands on the wall on either side of Alec's head, "First, we figure out work." He tried not to frown at Alec's deep, sad sigh, "Second, we actually look at getting married. Then third, we find a way to have a baby. Deal?"

Alec nodded, "Deal."

"Damn, you two didn't make it far."

Magnus pulled back at the sound of Jace's voice, "Well that was the buzz kill I needed to be able to drive home." He winked at Alec who laughed and pushed on Magnus. "Goodbye."

"Bye." Jace waved his hand at them but they began walking away again.


	9. His name is Max

**Chapter 9 – His name is Max**

Magnus grabbed Alec by his shirt, pulling him close, "We'll be back." He kissed him quickly and stepped back. Raphael was in his arms, hanging onto his jacket, gripping it tight like a baby monkey hanging onto his mother.

"Call me," Alec called after them. Raphael wasn't feeling well, coughing and a runny nose. He had been sick for the last few days, not getting better but not getting worse either. Thankfully he had not given it to Max, yet. One ill child was enough for both of them. Max was on the couch with his new book, huffing. He wanted to go but Alec refused. Magnus would have his hands full in the doctor's office with Raphael; he was not going to add Max into the mix.

Alec kept expecting himself to pull away from Magnus but his touch and his smell calmed him to the point of forgetting Clark Underhill. He still needed to tell Magnus but it was getting harder as the days went on. He knew Magnus was beginning to worry again. Alec kept having nightmares, the first night was too drunk to remember them but the second and third night was too much, he secretly snuck out of their room and spent the night on the couch. When Magnus found him, he just told him the truth; he didn't want to disturb him since Magnus had to work when he didn't. It was Wednesday afternoon and Alec would have to return to work the following day; Tessa called and gave him a few extra days as advised by the HR department. He had been off since last Thursday afternoon when the incident happened. He had been keeping the boys home since Raphael wasn't feeling well. But Magnus finally gave in and was taking him in, Alec offered to do it during the day but Raphael was on Magnus' insurance card and he had a new one. In the end, it was easier for Magnus to take the afternoon off with the new paperwork and getting Alec added to his doctor's file.

Magnus turned back with a nod, "I'll pick up food." He was almost hesitant to leave Alec, something wasn't right again.

Alec nodded and shut the door behind them. He turned back to Max, who was flipping the pages with a huff at every page. Not spending enough time to read the page, just needed a distraction. Max was the cutest tiny person when he was mad; he couldn't say anything just huffed with a deep sigh. The cutest kid and Alec couldn't help but smile at his son.

"Max?" Alec went to the couch, "Max?" He shook his little legs with each hand, "You want to play upstairs?"

"No," the little sigh Max made had Alec smiling.

"Want to watch Boss Baby?"

"No, I want snuggles" Max looked at Alec with a frown, "Will you read to me?"

Alec smiled, "Of course. But enough with the huffing and sighing. We've talked about that." He sat on the couch, pulling Max to his lap, and opened the book in his lap. They read the book twice before Alec sent Max upstairs for more books. Just two but Max came down with three and a grin. Max always played like he never heard Alec when it came to books. Alec got him at the bottom of the stairs and looked over the books in his hands when the doorbell rang. "Come on," Alec bounced Max once to get a giggle out of him and swung the door open, "Hel-" the words died on his lips. Alec froze to the man in front of him. "Uhm."

"Hello, Alec."

Alec had the instant reaction to twist Max away and out of his eyesight. "What are you doing here?"

"Daddy?" Max whined against him; he was confused and felt the shift in his father.

"I just want to talk."

Alec just stood there, "Uhm, yeah." He stepped back from the open door to give him space. "Max, I need you to go play upstairs." He put him down in front of the stairs, making sure he stood in front of him to box him on a gut reaction.

"You said three books."

"I said two but I need you to go upstairs. I'll give you three before bed tonight." Alec bent down to get eye to eye with his son, "I promise." He twisted Max around and gave him a nudge, "Please go." Max turned to give the guy who interrupted book time a confused look and Alec kissed the side of his cheek, "Go."

"You're good with him."

"He's my son." Alec shot round to stare him down.

"I knew you would be," Ignoring him.

"Raj, can we not do this?" Alec sighed, roughing shoving his hand in his hair.

Raj frowned, "No, I need to apologize to you and I can't wait anymore." He walked around the living room, looking at everything. A lot had changed in the four and a half years since his last visit.

"What?" Alec stayed in place. "Apologize?" Raj took a seat on the couch, clear to Alec he wasn't leaving any time soon. "Why?"

"Why?" He looked shocked, "Dumping my child on your doorstep hoping you would pick up the pieces, sound familiar?"

"He's not your child." Alec frowned, "He will never be your child."

"And I don't want him!" Raj stood up, "I don't want him and Lydia doesn't want him. He is all yours." Alec looked up the stairs to make sure Max was still in his room. "I'm a horrible human being, I'm aware. I was horrible to you and horrible to him."

Alec sighed, "You are a horrible person, Raj. Max is the greatest child. He's kind and sweet."

"He's kind and sweet because you made him that way. He is everything he is because he's yours. He wouldn't be that same kind and sweet boy if he was mine, and you know that." Raj cooled off enough to sit back down, Alec still standing by the stairs glaring at him. "You and I used to be such good friends."

"Then Lydia happened."

"Then Lydia happened." Raj repeated, "I love her. I married her and I wake up every day to excitement over what our lives will bring. We would never have been happy with a child and I didn't want to even try because that wouldn't be fair to the child."

Alec sat down then, on my favorite step.

"My mom told me that she sees you from time to time. At first, she was so shocked to see you so young with the baby and 'thought you were gay'." Raj used air quotes for the last part. "I told her being gay doesn't mean you can't have kids but she would always just tell me how happy you looked. She saw you at Meijer one day and she told him how amazed she was to see you that happy. She claimed even when your parents were still alive you never looked that happy. I knew then I did the right thing for the baby. He was in a loving family. You, Jace, and Izzy were always a solid rock of family health and happiness."

Alec snorted, "Izzy didn't talk to me, except for a few words, for three years because she thought I made the wrong choice with lying to keep Max."

Raj just stared at him, "Are you-"

"We're fine. Now."

"Good, good." Subconsciously nodding along with his words, "Lydia said you have a boyfriend."

"Magnus Bane, he's a lawyer. He has a son, Raphael who's a year older than Max. We all live here together." Alec kept his eyes steady; he felt like he was missing something about the whole situation. The panic in his chest was starting to rise. No matter how many times Lydia and Raj told him they didn't want Max, he couldn't get the panic to go away when they were around. He found himself speaking with thought and the pull in his stomach was beginning.

"I'm sorry I cut and ran. I was selfish. But you got something out of this as well."

Alec stood up, "Damn right it was fucking selfish. You can't sit here and tell me you're sorry but in the next breath tell me it worked out because I got something out of it. His name is Max. He isn't a something, he's a 'someone'. He's my someone and he has a name!" Alec felt himself screaming on the inside, he held in everything he wanted to say to Raj for so long, "He has a personality. He's kind and caring. He huffs when he doesn't get his way but it's too cute and everyone laughs. I tell him to stop but I secretly wish he never does because it is just a Max thing to do. He loves Mac and Cheese and anything else I have on my plate but only my plate. He hates the color green. When he doesn't feel well he has to be near me at all times. No one else can even touch me but him. And he loves to read, he always looking for new ways to con me into reading with him. You can just see the wheels turning in his head. He just doesn't know he doesn't have to con me to do anything because I would do anything for him. Even spending hours every night reading to him." He felt some of the steam rolling off himself, "He has a fucking name, Raj. Start using it."

Alec was trying not to be loud but it was hard to not to be loud when he was still angry. His frustration over the last few months were pouring out onto this fight. He felt his blood boil and his hands shake. He knew he had tears on his face. He was angry at Lydia, at Raj, but mostly he was mad at himself. He was angry at Underhill. He was angry at the world but mostly at himself.

"I'm sorry."

"And stop saying that, those words have no meaning to you. You saying them to me is meaningless."

"That's not true." Raj stood up, "That's not fai-"

"If you say 'that's not fair' then I am going to literally throw you out of this house." Alec pointed his finger at him to get him to stop talking. "Nothing about this is about fairness but I have done everything in my power to provide for my son. I don't want him to know the unfairness in which he was given to me. I just want him to know love and kindness. I tell him I love him every day because I don't want him to know for a second he was ever unloved enough by his biological parents, the same parents who threw him away. Left and forgotten by the two people who should love him more than life." Alec whipped at his cheeks to clear the angry tears, "That's what you did. You threw him away. And I will spend the rest of my life making sure he never feels that way."

"More than sorry, I wanted to tell you, we have no plans of taking Max away from you. We found a house it's not local to here, so you don't have to worry about seeing us around town often." Raj moved towards the door but stepped back when it opened.

Magnus laughed at one of Raphael's jokes but stopped when he saw the unfamiliar person in his living room with Alec who had an odd look on his face. "We got in and out fast so I thought we could go out instead." He spoke to Alec but that wasn't what he was waiting for, apparently the man was in the middle of saying something. His defenses went up when he saw the anger and tears on Alec's face.

"Hello, I'm Raj. You're Magnus, right?"

"Daddy?" Raphael hung onto his father, looking confused by the tension in the room.

"We're done, get out." Alec frowned at Raj, looking between him and Magnus who was still holding onto Raphael. He was still squirming to get down, so Alec pulled Raphael out of Magnus' frozen arms, he put him down on the stairs, "Raph, why don't you go get Max, we're going out for dinner." Alec smoothed down the hair on the side of his fast for a soothing motion, he was se bent up on angry he wasn't sure if he was calming himself or Raphael. "Okay?" Raphael nodded with a goofy grin, like the tension stopped mattering to him.

"Lydia's husband?" Magnus stepped close to Alec without actually touching him. They were still having their moments and each round of touching required careful thought; Alec was too tense for his liking, but he wasn't sure what was acceptable in this situation.

"Yes," Raj held out his hand to him.

Magnus looked at it for a second but didn't take it. "What do you want with my family?"

"Uhm-"

"You see this is my family." Magnus was stepping up the fight that he knew was going on in Alec's head. "Alec is my fiancée and Raphael and Max are our children. Are you going to try and take Max away from us?" Magnus glared at him.

"No, in fact-"

Magnus stepped forward, calming down a half a dial when Alec's hand came up to his forearm, "Then get the fuck out." The shocked looked on Raj's face told him, he was not expecting that but Magnus didn't care. He had enough of Lydia, Raj, and Camille for a lifetime. "Get out. You and Lydia are not welcome in this house."

Raj looked between the two. Magnus was staring him down and Alec was watching Magnus. "And if I wanted Max?"

"I would fight you until the end. And when it was over, I would bury you." Magnus shrugged off Alec and pulled Raj to him by his shirt. "I know you just said that right now to get a rise out of me so here goes: no one is ever going to break my family apart that includes you and your wife." Magnus pushed him back towards the door, "Now, get out of here before I physically throw you out."

Alec closed his eyes, he wanted to help Magnus, he wanted to be strong and be the one to tell Raj to get lost but he was frozen. Raj asking about taking Max set the panic in his chest and his world fell apart, the loud rushing sound of a train was clouding his ears.

"Congratulations, Gideon, you found the one." Raj left after that.

Alec narrowed his eyes, the haze around him vanished with a sudden gust. _Gideon_. Raj was the only person on the planet who called him Gideon. He was the only person allowed to. It was a clarity Alec needed. He felt the pressure of Lydia and Raj fall away, they might have done something wrong to Max but Raj was his friend, his best friend. He wasn't going to take Max and Alec knew he had to let that part go. Alec felt the breath leave his lungs with a sharp exhale. He had been holding onto this fear for years and now he didn't need to. Everything from the last few days seemed to float away. The affect his middle name had on him was night and day. Something shifted, and he suddenly felt right.

Alec swallowed against the deep exhale almost choking on the need for air. He needed to talk to Clary, get his feelings in place then he needed to talk to Magnus, he had waited too long again and he needed to get this figured out. He allowed Raj, Lydia, and Clark Underhill too much of his life and it was finally clearing. His skin was crawling but not the same as the last few days. He needed to be touched; he needed physical contact with Magnus, his safe house.

"Are you okay?" Magnus shut the door and came to Alec, touching his shoulder.

"Yes, I think so." Alec sighed, "Finally." He turned into Magnus' touch, putting a hand over his. "Finally," he repeated.

"What?" Magnus looked up when the kids came down, frowning. They had both decided to get dressed up for dinner in oddly mismatched clothes but Magnus was willing to let it go for the moment.

"This isn't going to make sense to you but he called me _Gideon_." Alec reached down and picked up Max when he came to him.

Magnus nodded, "Your middle name. So?"

"It was our code. When we were younger and we wanted something to have meaning beyond words we used our middle names. We did it in public because his parents were very strict and it didn't matter if the words around it were a lie, our names meant something." Alec hugged Max to his side; he wasn't letting him go, "I know I'm not telling this correctly." He could breathe, but with some difficulty as he was choked with tears again. "I know it doesn't make sense." Alec let out a deep sigh, evening out his breathing.

"You're right, this doesn't make sense to me but it makes senses to you and you feel better, so that's important." Magnus wanted to add another quip in there about feeling better about one aspect of life was better than none but left it on the tip of his tongue; he didn't want to bring up work right now. He was enjoying the sight of Alec with Max on his hip, finally not panicking over losing his son.

"It is important. It's like I can exhale after holding my breath for four years. Thank you, Magnus." Alec wrapped Max as close to him as he could before taking a seat on the couch so he could pull Max away from him and look him over. "Are you okay?" He centered him in his lap to really get close to him. Running his hands from his head to his little hands, Alec needed to make sure he was all there and safe. "I know we got loud." Alec played with Max's hair, moving it out of his face.

Max nodded, "Yes, daddy. I'm okay. I read like you told me to." He smiled with a giggle when Alec hugged him close to his chest again.

Alec looked up at Magnus, just stared at him, the tears of relief seemed to be there with no end in sight.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Magnus asked, his hands were on Raphael's shoulders. Raphael was standing in front of his father just watching the scene play out.

Alec nodded with a deep sigh, "Yeah, the panic is gone." He let out another deep sigh, "I know I'm not making sense right now."

Max pulled back from him and leaned up to pat his cheek, "Daddy, I'm hungry."

Magnus smirked at them, "Come on, let's go eat."

Alec let Max down so he could get his own shoes and jacket but he didn't make it far when Magnus was standing in front of him. "I meant every word I said. I won't let **anyone** steal my family." He quickly kissed Alec's cheek and drawing back; he used his hands to wipe the tears from Alec's cheeks, he didn't look sad anymore.

"Magnus," Alec looked at the boys who are bantering about which book they wanted for bedtime later, "I need to talk to yo-"

Magnus was waiting for him to meet his eyes but Alec wouldn't, he was staring at their children but not looking at him. "Do you still want to spend forever with me?" He asked out of the blue, partially because he wanted to know if anything changed and partially because he knew that it would get Alec to look at him.

"Yes, of course!" Alec whipped back to look at him.

Magnus smiled, "That's all I need to know. If you aren't ready to talk about the rest, then it can wait. I know something's going on in that head of yours that you need to work out before you can talk to me. So I can wait. But not forever." He searched Alec's face there was no guilt or shame, just love shining back at him. That told him everything was going to be okay. He just needed to do a little more waiting. "Let's go eat."

...

Alec waited a day before going over to Clary and Jace's. He wanted to see his nephew but really he needed to talk to Clary. He needed to tell someone about Underhill and he required Clary to help him work out his emotions before he told Magnus. He was going to tell him; he just didn't know how. The pain of it all brought on a whole new level of shame and guilt for not being able to stop it was killing him. He just needed her as a sounding board before displaying everything to Magnus, maybe that was the wrong choice and it would upset Magnus but it was something he had to do.

"Surprise." Alec held up a case of beer in glass bottles when Jace opened the door.

"Alright, this is what I like to see." Jace stepped back to let Alec in. "Where are the boys?"

"Izzy took them to the movies since Raphael can't go to daycare with a cold. Magnus is still at work and I just came over from work." Alec took off his leather jacket and threw it on the armchair, handing the beers to Jace. Clary was on the couch and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Those are a bribe."

"Oh, really?" Jace went to the fridge to stack them.

"I need your wife." Alec took a seat on the couch, pulling Clary's feet up to rest on his lap. "But I need her alone, so you have to leave and those are for later." Clary leaned back into the arm of the couch as Alec began massaging her swollen ankles, even after having her baby.

"Bye, honey," Clary called from the couch.

"Really?" Jace was already walking over to give Clary a kiss.

Clary smiled, "You gave me a reason to get out of going shopping with a baby, I love you even more." She winked at Alec as Jace headed for the door, "Don't forget the popcorn!"

"You hate popcorn?" Alec frowned.

"But my son did not and now I still can't stop myself from eating it." Jace was already out the door with a wave. "So, what's up?"

Alec leaned his head back on the couch, "Sorry, I haven't been around lately. I've been a little stressed and with Magnus working late nights I've been taking care of both kids a lot."

Clary shift so she was now sitting up, something was definitely wrong.

"I know you and Jace know about my work problems." Alec sighed, deep and painful. He wasn't going to make it without crying. "I- uhm-" He continued his movements of massaging her, "I went to HR."

She looked him over, Alec had lost weight that he couldn't afford to lose and his wasn't even in color, he had black circles under his eyes. His seemed to be messier then normal as well. Overall, Alec looked like a shell of his normal self. The stress from Raj and Underhill were doing a number on him and no one could help him if he didn't want help himself. "That's great." Clary moved her feet so she could sit closer to him, his face didn't seem that happy, "Right? I mean they are dealing with him, right?"

"Yeah, he got fired but not because I turned him in."

"Okay?" Clary just stared at him; he let a tear roll down his face, "What did he get fired for if not harassing you?"

"He came into my office after his meeting with HR. He was pissed and tried to kiss me. I was in the middle of throwing him out when-" Alec leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees, he couldn't look at her when he spoke next. "I let my guard down and he cornered me."

"What?" She put her hand on his back, rubbing up and down his back, "Alec, what does that mean? Cornered you where?" She felt the plea in her voice for him to answer.

"He pushed me into one of my walls by my door, he-" this was harder to talk about then he thought it would be. How was he ever going to talk about this again if he couldn't get it out the first time? His eyes fluttered shut and open for a moment before shutting completely. "He pushed himself against me, trying to kiss me again. I could feel-" He stopped to collect his words, changing the direction of the conversation, "-everything. Gina came in and saw everything. She called security and had him thrown out and he got fired."

"Oh, Alec." She wrapped an arm around him to pull him to her. She knew he was crying now. "Are you okay?"

"No." He answered he hated this side of him. Part of him felt ashamed but really he felt weak. He had always been the strong one and right now he didn't know what to do. "I don't know how to tell Magnus. I was so wrong for not listening to him and now I feel, god, I don't even know what I feel. I've been putting a smile on my face for my family but it all hurts. I'm okay if I don't think about it. The smile comes easy so easy to smile with my boys but when something about work comes up I flash back to that moment and I can't smile. I stiffen up and can't move. Magnus feels it, but I can't seem to open up yet. What is wrong with me?" He was crying, tears a steady flow down his face. They were matched by Clary's, he kept her hold on him tight.

"You feel like the victim as you should since you are a victim. It's going to be okay, we will help you." Clary wiped her own tears then changed tactics, "I can't believe he did that. Where is he? I want to punch him in the face." She glared at her door as if held the magic answers she needed to find him. "Or punch in his manly parts. That would teach him a lesson. Right in the balls!"

Alec looked at Clary with a sad smile, "I think there is a stigma in this country, you hardly hear about guys going through this. Why is that? I'm in pain and I don't know what to do. I create training for a living and I have no idea how to work through this."

"You need to talk to Magnus, above anything else. You need a support system and he's your biggest supporter! Maybe, getting professional help wouldn't be bad either."

"I can't. I can barely say the words to you. How am I going to talk to some stranger?" Alec stood up, to get away from her; he needed air.

"Magnus is going to understand and he can help you but you need to talk to him. Please talk to him." She sat up straighter to watch him pace.

The baby monitor went off then, Chris had woken up from his nap. "Can I get him?" Alec asked.

Clary nodded, she learned everything she knew about babies from him; other than her parents and Jace there was no one she trusted more with her son. She could hear Alec speaking to her son the entire time he checked his diaper, then changing it; still talking to him as if he would understand everything Alec said to him. He was still a little fussy, so she got up to make him a bottle while Alec came out of the bedroom, her son safely tucked in his arms.

"I told Magnus I wanted to have a baby with him. Now, we have problems looking at one another. The worst part is he has no idea why." He took the bottle from her, not willing to give up on the warm baby cuddles just yet.

"Alec, I know it might seem bleak but it will get better. You two love each other so much. Talk to him. Talk to Magnus."

"He told Ragnor we moved too fast. He's the best thing that ever happen to me and I messed up again. If it's not one thing, it's another. I started off by calling us a mistake. Now, this. How could I let this happen? I didn't listen to the one person who I should have." Alec was staring down at his nephew. "We haven't even made it a year and I've pushed Magnus so far, he's telling his best friend that we…" Alec trailed off; he couldn't bring himself to say it anymore.

"Alec, you are really emotional right now and honestly, I know it seems miserable but you are taking this too far. You are overthinking it. Talk to Magnus. I'm sure it wasn't meant how it sounded."

Alec moved to burp his nephew; he was an easy baby to take care of. Chris was calm and relaxed, only getting fussy but never screaming. He loved just looking at him and all the innocent in him, "What am I going to do, little man? Huh? I'm lost."

Clary sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Stop overthinking and you will be fine." She felt her heart break for Alec. He was such a sweet, kind human being but he did overthink everything. She knew Magnus wasn't leaving but getting him to think that was the hard part.


	10. Secrets Revealed

**Chapter 10 – Secrets Revealed**

Magnus wanted to groan; he had a moment of peace- finally. The last few months had been long and exhausting and he was gearing up for the next round of fighting. Something had happened, he didn't know what because Alec wasn't speaking to him about anything involving work. He had completely shut down on him on anything involving the topic. Magnus gave up and sent Gina a message asking for lunch but she refused to saying 'it wouldn't be a good idea until work settled down'. She did give him one clue saying Underhill was meeting his end at the company and told him to wait out Alec. He planned too, wait out Alec; that is but no more. He wasn't willing to wait any longer. He was going to wait for the kids to sleep and he was going to kiss Alec until he gave in. According to Gina, Underhill was no longer in their lives and he wanted his fiancée back, he kept getting ahead of himself and calling Alec his husband more than once, he had to dial that back a little but one thing was for certain he was going to get Alec down the aisle if it was the last thing he did. He always said after the horrible end of his first marriage that he would never make that trip again, but now he found himself desperate to get there. He wanted that feeling of not having to check his word choice when speaking about Alec. He never wanted anything more then to call Alec his husband and mean it in every sense of the term.

It had only been a few days since Raj's visit and he thought him and Alec had made progress which they had just not involving anything to do with work; Alec's most significant stressor. If work wasn't mentioned, then you wouldn't even know something was amiss but the second anyone mentioned anything HR related, Alec's eyes would cloud over and it would be Alec, but not quite his Alec. His siblings weren't even catching on anymore and it was annoying him.

Alec was currently picking up the boys from Clary and Jace's. The daycare was closed for the day for a teacher appreciation day; they did this once a year. The boys had missed daycare three out of the four days this week plus having Friday off, Magnus wasn't even sure what they paid for this week since they only made it on Monday. Raphael had missed so much of his kindergarten work he was afraid his son would get behind, it was a new program offered at the daycare and it was easy to get both the kids there. Max was too young for the program but Raphael enjoyed it. Clary watched the boys all day since she was still home with her son, it was all boys now which Izzy kept joking that she needed to have a girl to get the numbers back up for her and Clary. The 'boys needed a baby girl to protect', Simon had said. Izzy then promised they would, just not any time soon.

Magnus laid himself down on their couch with a deep sigh; he was lost and his family was lost. They were almost back to them but there was this dark cloud above them, and it had Alec's work tattooed across it. He couldn't figure out how to fix this. If Underhill had been moved or fired then why was Alec shutting him out? This is what they both wanted. This was supposed to help but it seemed to make it all worse. He felt the panic begin to rise in his chest. There had to be a way to move forward without ruining them. They loved each other too much to let anything pull them apart. He just needed to figure out a way to crack Alec open; get him to talk. That was his plan tonight. Kiss him until he either wanted him to stop, or he broke his silence. If he was honest with himself, he could tell it was toss up which outcome he was hoping for, getting Alec to talk was the preferred but spending a night in bed making out had its pros as well. He loved making out with Alec; he was such a good kisser who know the expert way to turn his head for the right pressure to keep any kiss lasting for hours. And Magnus could last for hours just kissing him. It wouldn't be the first time they spend time fully barely clothed just locked in each other's arms kissing and marking their bodies respectively. And tonight he was going to get his fiancée to a make out with him. He felt seedy when he said it like that to himself but he really missed being in Alec's arms. He told Alec he would wait for when Alec was ready to talk but he didn't know how much waiting he could take, so the kissing was going to be his ticket in; or so he hoped.

There was a soft knock on the door and unfortunately pulled him from his daydreaming; locked in Alec's arms with his lips smoothing over Alec's jaw. "Yeah." He called out when the knock sounded again but he stayed on the couch just a little longer. He slowly made his way to the door and frowned when it opened to the one person he hated most. He would have preferred Camille standing in front of him instead of Underhill, "I don't want you here." Magnus almost slammed the door in his face, "Go away Underhill, haven't you caused enough damage."

"I'm here to apologize." Underhill put his hand on the door jamb, hoping that would stop Magnus from slamming the door and breaking his hand, "I ruined my career for a blue-eyed crush. I need to say sorry for that but I can't face Alec, so I wanted to apologize to you."

Magnus held the door open as he was the only one home. "Make it fast."

"I did a lot that I regret. I know Alec will never forgive me and neither will you. I understand that and I'm not asking for forgiveness but I wanted to say it anyway." Underhill looked Magnus over, "I've come to my senses, unfortunately, it was too late and I did horrible things that I'm not proud of."

"You should be talking to Alec." Magnus frowned, he didn't want Underhill talking to Alec but he should hear his apology not him. "Apologize to him."

"I can't, not after what I did to him. He'll never look at me again. I can't look at me again." Magnus narrowed his eyes, he was missing something and Underhill picked up on it. "He didn't tell you." Underhill knew it, "Alec's too nice for his own good."

"Stop talking about my husband like you know him. What did you do?" There is was, the 'husband' word again. Magnus groaned internally. It was stuck in his head and it was going to be stuck there forever.

"I tried to kiss him, he pushed me away but I wouldn't allow that and I forc-" Underhill finished the word under his breath, but it was too late; Magnus knew what he was saying. Underhill saw the look flash across his face, he made a mistake.

"What? What did you say-" Magnus saw his vision cloud with red, "Forced? What did you do to my Alec?" He yelled at him taking a step forward to be as close to Underhill as he could would touching him. He wanted to punch him. He wanted to grab him by his shirt and throw him out of his house. He wanted to know why Alec hadn't told him. But most of all he wanted to know if Alec was okay.

"I pushed him against the wall, he was so surprised; it was written across his face that he never saw me coming. I forced myself against him, in my head I felt if he could just feel me, see what we felt like together it would be okay. I tried to kiss him again but he finally got me pushed away when Gina- when she came in and saw me. That's what I did, that's what got me fired."

"You forced yourself on my husband? You literally forced your body against my husband?" Magnus couldn't breathe, that's why Alec was shutting down any time work was mentioned. The words were on repeat in his brain and on his lips. "You sexually assaulted Alec in his office at work." Magnus spoke slowly almost pausing after each word to really hear what they sounded like. To taste each word on the tip of his tongue; to get them engraved on his lips.

Clark Underhill forced himself on Alec. And Magnus had no clue. No wonder Alec would freeze whenever work was brought out. He wanted to throw up.

The haze seemed to burn the air around him. He began speaking without thought to the words crossing his lips. "You know I'm a lawyer, right? I work for a rather large law firm. I could sue you and show the entire world what type of person you really are. Get you registered as a sex offender for forcing yourself on another human." He was doing it more for the show; he knew Alec would never want him to do that because Underhill was right, he was too nice for his own good. He would want to problem to just go away peaceful if that was even an option in this case. It was one of the many things he loved about him. "I could ruin your entire life."

"I know. Work is already beating you to that but," Underhill nodded, "I will accept anything you do to protect your family."

"I told you to leave my family alone and you just wouldn't listen." It took everything in Magnus' being to think about what Alec would want from him. This was about Alec not him even if he was willing to risk his career to beat the man standing in front of him. His vision was getting darker by the second of staring at him, his eyes narrowing. "Leave Alec and my family alone and I won't do anything. If I ever see or hear from you again, I won't stop. I will take you down whether Alec agrees or not. Don't ever speak to Alec again even if it is to say you're sorry. " Magnus walked over to the door, holding it open. "Get out of our house."

"Wh-?" Alec asked from the open doorway with Raphael in his arms and Max by his side. He froze, he couldn't move and couldn't speak. He was here in front of him. Alec twisted so Raphael was away from Underhill and pulled on Max's shoulder to get his wedged between him and the door.

Underhill didn't say anything, just snuck out passed Alec careful not to touch him or his children. He trusted in the words Magnus spoke to him, he meant business, and it started now. "Ss-ssorry." He uttered as he went by.

Alec just looked at Magnus with the unasked question.

Magnus' heart broke with Alec's gut reaction to protect their children from the man who attacked him. He wanted to hug him. Tell him everything would be okay. He also wanted to cry for him. "He came to apologize to me because he can't face you." Magnus refused to look way from Alec, he wanted to make sure Alec understood his meaning, "I was a little confused but he cleaned that up by telling me what happened in your office. About what he was apologizing for."

Alec frowned, going entirely into the house and closing the door behind him and the kids. "Magnus-"

"We should talk when the kids go to bed." Magnus leaned over to kiss him, really kiss him. Almost forgetting that they did have two very young and impressionable children with them. "I'm sorry for everything that happened."

Alec nodded, "Let's go upstairs. I miss family time." It was a copout but Alec couldn't think straight with just having Underhill in his house. His skin was crawling with some emotion he wasn't willing to name. His heart wouldn't slow down.

Magnus picked up Max who was fighting with his shoes. "Buddy, they're crocs. They're not that hard to take off." He smiled at the simple act of Max having a problem with his shoes seemed to ground him back to his family. His blood settled and the red overlay left his eyes. He could see clearly while he pulled Max's shoes off.

Alec mimicked his movement with Raphael's shoes then his own, all the while keeping Raphael in his arms. He wasn't willing to lose contact with his son just yet. Alec could match his breathing to Raphael's and it seemed to settle him down.

"You know, buddy, for a smart child, it's a little upsetting to see a pair of crocs defeat you. I blame your father; he's never allowed to buy your shoes again." Max giggled at him. "Or clothes for that matter." Magnus was trying to not to think about the last ten minutes, he was trying to settle his insides but really he wanted to cry. The last few weeks were too much for him. Even he had his emotional breaking point.

"Magnus," Alec felt his breathing become shaky, again, "I heard you talking to Ragnor, I didn't tell you because I got upset when I heard you tell Ragnor we moved too fast. I felt weak. So I drank instead. Three beers on an empty stomach. It was foolish. I should have said something when it happened last week." He felt the tears just behind his eyes. "Then Clary had the baby and it just slowly slipped away. I didn't know what to say or how to say it."

Magnus' eyes got wide, "What?" Magnus put Max down and took Raphael to set him down as well. "Go play. We'll be right up." They both complained, and very loudly. But one look from Magnus sent them both upstairs, Alec looked so defeated and this couldn't wait. "I need you to tell me everything. What happened, Alec?" Magnus felt the pleading in his voice. Waiting to talk wasn't going to happen; they needed to talk now. "What the hell happened, Alec? You finally went to HR to get rid of him and then what?" When Alec didn't move, Magnus sighed, "I need you to talk to me. Please?"

The damn broke in Alec, "The day before Clary gave birth. I went to HR. He got mad and cornered me in my office." Alec took his light jacket off and threw on the floor by the closet door; he was getting himself worked up because he felt defeat and he never wanted to talk to Magnus about this. It scared him that he wasn't strong enough to handle one lousy employee; that he allowed Underhill to get the best of him.

"And?"

"He tried to kiss me. I pushed him away and went to my door to get him to leave but he was just there in front of me all of a sudden. He pushed me against the wall and he was so close. I froze." Alec began pacing around the room. "I've never had anyone that close to me that I didn't want close to me. I felt him-" Now that he was speaking he couldn't stop himself, he didn't want to stop. He wanted Magnus to know everything even with the shame he felt over it all. "-he was aroused by forcing me and something in me shut down, I couldn't act fast enough because feeling him turned on and pressed against me made me want to vomit." He felt his insides burn; he wanted to throw up. He had tears in his eyes again and in his head, nothing in his brain was working right.

Magnus just listened, he didn't know what he could say anyway, he had never been in this situation before. His heart was breaking with every word Alec spoke to him. Hammering louder and louder against his chest.

"I pushed him away and then Gina was there. I was crying like an idiot. And I did vomit, a lot. She reported him up to the HR director, along with everything she saw over the last few months and everything I reported. I didn't know then but she had already started a report on him before I filed mine. I felt so weak, like how could he get the upper hand on me. I work out, I'm strong, and I completely missed him coming up to me."

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes, I did. I did." He was breathless now, "None of this would have happened if I just listened to you in the beginning and thought of more than just work." Alec sighed, finally taking a seat on the stairs. "Everything that happened after the fact is my fault."

"A-"

"I didn't speak up." Alec raised his voice, "I did nothing when I should have done something. Anything. What lesson would this teach Max? Or Raphael? What are my children going to think about me doing nothing?"

"Alec, you are the victim here. You are being too hard on yourself."

"This is why I didn't want to tell you. I heard you talking to Ragnor about moving too fast. We're moving too fast. Once again, a mistake I made. I convinced you to move in with me and you thought it was too fast."

"You are taking that conversation out of context. We weren't-"

"But you feel that way." Alec just stared at him, his voice gaining conviction. "You might not have felt it in the beginning but you feel it now."

"No, no, I don't." Magnus went down on his knees in front of Alec. The little voice in his head called him a lying, he had uttered those words in his head once but regretted it the second he thought them. This conversation wasn't going the way he planned and he needed to get Alec back on track before they said something they couldn't take back. "I'm telling you I don't. Listen to me, please." Magnus was pleading now; he had to. He didn't know how to get Alec to really see him; Alec was so clouded by what he wanted to see and not what was actually in front of him. "Whatever you have made up in your mind, you need to drop it. You didn't make a mistake. I didn't make a mistake. We love each other and we have taken the next steps in our relationship as any couple would. Those aren't mistakes. Nothing you and I have is a mistake."

"How do I fix this?" Alec put his hands on Magnus' face, cupping his chin. "How do I fix us? Go back to what we were."

"There's no going back; you know that. Couples change that's part of life. We can only move forward, not back."

"How do we do that?" Alec felt his entire body crashing around him, all of the emotions from the last few months was hammering down on him. "How?" His hands are falling to his side.

"At the considerable risk of sounding cliché, one step at a time. Underhill took so much from you, from us but it won't break us. You never cheated and I never punched the guy in the face as I wanted. We are strong and we love each other." Magnus sighed, "You're not the only one who feels defeated. I let my jealousy cloud my judgment. We both have things to feel weak about but-"

"I was never tempted, not once. He was creepy more than anything."

"I know. We've already covered that and I know that will never change. You are the victim. He harassed you and forced himself on you; you did nothing wrong. Reporting early or not isn't the problem, he's the problem. Do not blame yourself for him. It's letting him win." Magnus ran a hand through Alec's hair. He repeated the process a few more times as it seemed to have a soothing effect on both of them.

Alec closed his eyes, evened his breathing, and relaxed into Magnus' touch. For the first time in months, he felt like home. This was his home and it was beginning to right itself again. "I am embarrassed and ashamed of myself. I don't know what to do. How to get through this? I always thought I was so strong, work out all the time, but I was so surprised that I panicked and froze. Like my mind couldn't keep up with what was happening in real time."

"I know, baby, I know." Magnus felt the tears welling up in his eyes; the couldn't let them fall. He had to stay strong for Alec, "No one knows what they would do in that situation because it's not something you can prepare for. I want to sit here and tell you not to feel embarrassed or ashamed, but they are your feelings and only you can work through them. Men are sexually harassed as well; it is not something left to only the women to deal with. You can always tell me anything; I would do anything for you." Magnus did cry then, just a few tears but his heart was broken. Alec had been hurting for so long and he couldn't help him. "I love you and I will do whatever we need to do. Tell me; you know that."

"I do."

Magnus didn't want to be that person who made a horrible situation about them but he needed to talk to Alec about this and there wasn't any other time, "I'm not going to lie, because I can't lie to you. I've been hurt over the last few weeks. I have a greater understand now but you could have come to me. We are getting married. Why did you come to me?"

Alec looked away, the tears were below the surface, it seemed to settle there and never leave. "I didn't know how to face you." He whispered, "I didn't know what I would do if the look in your eyes changed anymore."

Magnus sighed, "Alec-"

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." He whispered again, "I feel like I've done nothing but mess up. Lydia showed up and I lost my mind." Alec looked up at the ceiling then closed his eyes as if he couldn't face the world anymore.

"Okay, it's okay," Magnus nodded, even though Alec wouldn't look at him, "Alec, listen to me, I'm not going anywhere and neither are you. We will work through this. One day at a time. And right now, I think I've gone through enough." He wanted Alec to look at him, "What can I do, right now, to help you?"

Alec opened his eyes, putting his hands on Magnus' face, "There is something you can do, right now that would help."

"What's that?"

"Kiss me." Alec smiled at Magnus' instant reaction to his whisper, he went up high on his knees and claimed his kiss. It was a steady, even kiss without pressure but filled with love. Light and fluffy, Magnus pulled back then in for another kiss. He would never get tired of this. Alec on his lips and in his hands. "Kiss me," Alec whispered again when Magnus pulled back to far. Magnus smiled with him, going in for his third kiss. "Why does one touch, one kiss, from you make everything better?"

Magnus laughed, "I don't know. It has a soothing effect on me too." Magnus pulled back to stand up, "Listen, this isn't going to fix itself overnight but we will get better. I think getting back to normal will at least help a little. But I need you to consider talking to someone, professionally."

"Work said the same thing but I declined for now." Alec gave him a sad smile, "I'll think about it."

Magnus nodded, that was all he could ask for. "Now, let's go see what our children have destroyed."

Alec frowned, "They have been very quiet."

When they both stood up, Magnus pulled Alec down the few steps to the living room floor with him. Magnus ran his hands over Alec's face, down to his jaw then wiped his cheeks. Alec closed his eyes and let the sensation flow over him. He repeated the motion once, twice more until he heard Alec sigh. Magnus mimicked his sigh, "Come on," Magnus pulled his hands away and went up the stairs first.

Alec waited a moment before following. He felt so much lighter.

...

Magnus waited to go to sleep that night on purpose; he wanted to be selfish and spend some time with Alec without him knowing. His heart was breaking for him, he loved him and there was nothing he could do to protect him; save him. He let the tear fall down his cheek then. He couldn't protect his family and he wanted nothing more than to be that protector. He was up on his elbow looking down at his sleeping fiancée. For the first time in months Alec had a relaxed expression on his face; finally, his sleep wasn't going to be fit full. He lost count of the number of times Alec had woken him up with the tossing and turning then the murmurers would start and Magnus would just be watching him, much, in the same manner he was doing right now. When the tossing got too bad, he would talk to him, usually about the day that Alec had missed out on and it would calm him down enough to sleep but it never erased the frown on his face. Alec never said anything the following days, he was always a sleep and never knew.

Today that was gone and Magnus let out a sigh of relief. Part of him wanted to wake Alec up and make love to him for hours, show off their love as they had done so many times in the past. Kissing each other using the full force of their bodies to display their love for one another, to one another. He wouldn't wake him up; he needed his sleep and Magnus wouldn't take that away from him.

Besides he had a surprise for Alec. Their one year was coming up and Magnus had rented out the cottage as he promised before. He was going to take him there whether Underhill was still in their lives or not; he was going to spend the entire weekend showing off his love for him while being completely naked. He didn't care about the sex; he cared about Alec being okay. Clary and Jace were on child duty and Magnus had the complete surprise worked out. He was going to whisk Alec away for three days and he was going to make it unique. The surprise had been set weeks ago.

Now, it was going to be easier. He was going to spend the entire weekend making sure Alec knew he was the victim but he was going to get past it and come out on the other side stronger. He went to the grief counselors the law firm hired from time to time to get some ideas for Alec since he was against going to one on his own before this happened. He wanted to know what they would do if someone was getting harassed, now, however, that was different. Their advice didn't seem to fit and he would have to find new advice. He was going to work through this with Alec so they would be able to move on and get down the aisle someday. Magnus didn't feel right planning a wedding with Alec still recovering so he was going to wait until Alec came to him healed and ready for the next phase of their lives. He was going to wait and do whatever he could.

Magnus couldn't resist his urge any longer. He went in for a light kiss, hoping it wouldn't wake him up. He moved some hair away from his forehead and kissed him there too. His luck had run out on the forehead kiss.

"Magnus?" Alec opened his eyes to see his favorite pair of green-gold eyes looking down at him.

"I couldn't sleep. Sorry for waking you but you looked too good not to kiss." He whispered.

Alec smiled, a real light up his eyes smile, "Come here and kiss me like you mean it." He used a hand to the back of his neck to pull him down.

Magnus went to him with pleasure and kissed him; this one was not gentle as the other two. They spent the next hour just calming each other while making out. The kisses weren't soft but they held no heat. They were sweet. They were relaxing. There would be no sex tonight, just kissing and soothing. They didn't talk; they didn't need too. Magnus did roll them over at one point; he needed to feel Alec's weight on him. The pressure of him relaxed him into the bed. The slow burn that told Magnus 'everything was going to be alright'.


	11. MALEC is Definitely Happening

**Chapter 11 – MALEC is Definitely Happening**

Magnus drove the three hours this time to the cottage, it was another Friday night and they had the entire weekend to be alone. They were missing their anniversary by almost a week but work forced a change of plans. Alec had to make up for some client after the readjustment of their teams.

It had been a long three weeks since Clark Underhill's visit to their home and Alec finally confronted himself and bared himself to Magnus. Magnus had never been more heartbroken in his life for another person. They had ended the night in kisses but the feelings were hard to deal with in the coming morning light. Alec announced the following morning that he wanted to talk to someone professionally, he was honestly lost on what he wanted to say and Magnus smiled at him and agreed. He even offered to come with him when the time was right for him if that's what he wanted. Alec smiled that morning for the first time in what seemed ages, the smile light up his entire face. His panic of Max being taken from him was gone. Underhill was gone. Magnus and Raphael were still there. Alec repeated those words to him that morning and they all made sense to him. Alec let the stress of work go just a week after seeing the therapist. He didn't seem to have a problem with anyone in the office touching him but work was still hard.

The hardest part for Magnus was explaining to Alec that he still wanted to get married but they would need to wait, Alec needed to work on himself before they got married and they needed to work together for them both to be right. Alec took the conversation well and Magnus just tried to repeat over and over again that he loved him and they would get married; they were just having an 'extended engagement'. Alec nodded then and told him it never hurt to wait.

He made sure to spend time to explain Ragnor. The thought that Alec was so scared to come to him before of something he heard between him and Ragnor hurt. It was a trying time and he wasn't careful with his words. He was annoyed at Ragnor for continually canceling on him; it was beginning to hurt the boys' feelings. Both of the boys because Max got upset when Raphael got upset. He made Alec tell him about which part he stopped listening. He said the moving too fast was talking about telling Raphael about his visits that never seem to happen. When he said their names it was bad but it had nothing to do with moving out or moving in. He was trying to get Ragnor's opinion on if they should go on their weekend away. He stressed multiple times it wasn't about moving in or wanting to move out, it was about if he should even plan a weekend away if neither was going to enjoy it. Magnus knew he hurt Alec's feelings with those comments but it was the truth. He didn't think a weekend away would be a good idea when they were both stressed and hardly speaking.

Alec went too far out of fear again and questioned if maybe they should stay home. Cancel the weekend and just stay with the boys. He made a good case then, thinking this was what Magnus wanted. Magnus knew Alec was just trying to give him an out which Magnus downright refused. He would kidnap Alec if he had to and he told Alec as much.

That didn't stop Magnus from being nervous for this weekend.

Izzy and Simon were coming over for the weekend and taking care of the kids since they had to change their weekend away. Izzy made the announcement that she was not going to be stream rolled or conned into anything but Magnus wasn't convinced and he knew the boys weren't either. Their children had their horns out and he tried to get them to behave but it was surprisingly Alec who stepped in and said all toys would be thrown away if they had Izzy in tears at any point of the weekend but Simon was fair game. The boys laughed and Izzy punched him and Alec surprisingly hard.

Alec grinned at Magnus when they were packing, asking about why bother with clothes when the cabin had a 'sans clothing' rule. Magnus snorted and continued to pack. He wasn't sure about that this time around. That did not stop him from packing condoms and lube for the weekend but this time around his nerves had him so scared to even suggest no clothes. It had been weeks since they did any more than kiss and Magnus didn't want to pressure Alec. They had a few make out sessions but they were always fully clothed and late at night.

Magnus noticed Alec had no issues with Magnus touching him, but he didn't want to press that. He was scared to push Alec back to that moment. So he was sitting back and allowing Alec to take control. The last few weeks had been tame, they still laid on the couch together and snuggled in bed. They held hands and he carried the kids fine, but they had not had sex. Nothing. They kissed, made out a few times, but other than that nothing. Magnus would wait until hell froze over if that's what Alec needed but he didn't know what Alec needed.

So, he was in 'sit back and wait' mode. A mode he didn't realize was so exciting either, he spent a lot of time watching Alec, and he started noticing things. Things that made him fall in love with Alec even more, if that was even possible.

Alec always had a smile for the children even on his worst of days; he tried to smile to them all the time. Then he noticed how Alec told the kids he loved them every day, told Magnus he loved him every day. He went out of his way to cook as much as possible because he wanted his family to spend time together with good food at the family table, even if the kids only ever demanded food from his plate. He always waited for Magnus to go to bed, he never fell asleep without Magnus in their room. He stole his favorite tie at least once a week. He noticed that Alec tried to spent as much time reading to Raphael as he did to Max which caused Magnus to laugh because there was no one who loved books more than Max, it was a lost cause but Alec still tried. Alec called his sisters once a day, usually in the car; Clary in the morning on his way to work and Izzy in the evening on his way to get the boys. He found that out by accident and it was just another thing he didn't notice before.

Magnus spent so much time noticing all the new things that he wanted to kick himself for not noticing them before. They were the little moments that made their family run and he was head over heels in love. It didn't matter when or if they got married, they were endgame and he would never be able to live in a world without Alec by his side. Husband or not.

He put the car in park once they finally made it to the cottage, "Alec, we're here." He unbuckled himself and planted a kiss on his cheek to get him to wake up. Alec stretched out and looked over the house and the water beyond before turning back with a smile, "I'll get the food. You get the bags."

Unlike last time, they left on time tonight and made it before dinner time. Alec had promised to make him whatever he wanted and Magnus got smart and said 'pizza' so Alec true to his word got everything for homemade pizza. They did it once in awhile were Alec would make the kids their own tiny crust and they could make their own pizzas. Tonight was going to be no different, just the adult version. Magnus had packed beer and wine for them, along with other food supplies. He wasn't sure about the clothing optional rule but he was sure they were not leaving this cottage until Sunday afternoon when they were forced to leave.

Magnus got the door first then the food as he planned, he was much faster with his movements then Alec who slept the entire way across the state.

Alec yawned as he passed Magnus to put their bags in the bedroom, then went for the kitchen. He needed to make coffee before he started dinner or he would burn the place down. He needed a moment to wake up then he would get started. He watched Magnus put the beer in the fridge and the wine in the freezer to get it cooler faster, he began to unpack the food bags but Alec finally shooed him away. Magnus wouldn't know what he needed out and what he needed put away, so he took over and told him to wait.

"I lied, don't wait. Make coffee." Alec grinned, sliding the coffee grounds over the high ledge to Magnus who had just sat on the barstool on the other side. "Sorry," Alec's grinned deepened at Magnus' look of annoyance at just having sat down.

He got started on the coffee and just got it going when he decided to respond, "Sure, honey. Anything else, honey?" Magnus grinned back at him.

"Yes, actually, come here." Alec finished sorting the food by then and had his hands free. He had also pulled out all the cooking equipment he would need, they found out last time that the kitchen had been fully equipped with everyone could ever need and then some. "Stand right here, facing me." Alec pointed in front of him.

Magnus did as he was told, "You're not going to make me cook, are you? Cause we both-" He was cut off by Alec's lips.

Alec smirked and leaned in for a kiss. He meant for it to be simple, just a hello sort of kiss but it had been so long since he felt sure of them that simple wasn't going to cut it. Magnus quickly twisted them, so Alec's back was pushed into the counter, the edge biting into his skin. Alec put his hands on Magnus' neck to keep him close, but he pulled himself back, "How hungry are you?"

"Pizza can wait." Magnus went back in for another kiss. The floodgates had been opened and he didn't want to close them.

Alec nodded and pushed off from the counter. Thankfully he only kept out the pantry items; everything else had gone in the fridge. "Good. I can't." Alec kissed him again, wrapping his arms around Magnus' neck, walking in the general direction of the bedroom. "I can't wait anymore."

Magnus continued the kiss, taking the lead on the walking, he did pull back from the kiss to ask the question he needed answered before he would continue this, "Alec, are you sure?"

"Yes." Alec tried to kiss him again but Magnus pulled back, getting Alec to remove his arms from his neck. They continued their walk to the bedroom. "Magnus, I need something from you." He nodded, "I need you to trust me. Even after what happened in my office, I felt safe in your arms. Others made my skin crawl but you- you never did. I always felt safe with you. I will always be safe in your arms."

"I'm scared," Magnus whispered; his hands on Alec's waist.

Alec smiled at him, "I know. It's okay. I want you to know that I want this, I want you." Alec kissed him lightly, "But if you still want to wait then we wait. Neither of us will be happy if the other isn't."

Magnus looked him over, searching his eyes, "You're back." He whispered.

"Huh?"

"Since Lydia came to our door and Underhill started you lost this look in your eyes like the blue wasn't as bright. But tonight I see it again. The first time I really saw it was when I had you pressed against your fridge." Magnus was moving his head at slightly different angles and just staring at Alec's eyes.

Alec smiled, running his hands up and down Magnus' arms, soothing them both, "I've been reading a lot lately and one of the things I was looking over was some of the old training manuals I created in my early years at the company for other companies on harassment and when reading them I realized how off base I was, and my team lead just let me slide with that crap. Maybe he didn't know any better himself. I completely overhauled the entire training structure in one day because it fueled this anger in me. There was hardly anything in there about emotional abuse and harassment based on comments alone. There was nothing in there about the fear of going to work because your emotional exhausted from someone's voice even if they weren't making comments. I didn't even know that was my biggest problem until it was over. The relief of going to work and knowing it wasn't going to be there was the greatest feeling, but I didn't know that was my drawback. You told me. You expressed your worry but I didn't think. I couldn't think. My world was clouded." Alec lost his smile from his lips but not his eyes. "The training included hardly anything about how it can happen to men and can come from women or men. There were so many things lacking that I didn't even know I was experiencing until I sat down and wrote it out with my therapist."

Magnus just listened, he was rubbing small circles at the base of Alec's back. Pouring all the emotional support he could into that small movement.

"This week I told my therapist about this trip and how nervous I was. Not nervous because we would be alone or anything like that. I was nervous if you would even want me anymore. I told her I felt damaged-" Alec sent Magnus a look when he went to speak and Magnus closed his lips. "-and I felt like I shouldn't feel this way, it's not like he raped me. I just felt his-" Alec coughed slightly, "-his arousal. But she was very kind in her response and she helped me talk it out. Helped me see that I had to stop comparing my pain with anyone else's. No one handles harassment, sexual or physical, rape, none of it the same way as everyone else. My experience is my own to me and I need to stop thinking 'well it could have been worse so I should be fine because it wasn't worse'. It doesn't work that way. I wish there were more words I could say to you about the actual day but not yet. I will, someday, I will, but right now I need something from you."

"Anything," Magnus whispered out to him; he would give Alec anything at that moment. Legal or illegal, he would do it.

"I need you to trust me." He smiled, "I want you to make love to me and I want to spend this entire weekend wrapped up in you, in me. Just Malec being together."

Magnus choked on his laughter then, "Malec?" He laughed so hard, the tears that were sitting just below the surface during Alec's speech came rolling down his cheeks. He had forgotten him and Gina spending an entire lunch date coming up with that term. The term had caught him so off guard; he couldn't breathe through the laughter. "Malec."

Alec laughed, he dropped his hands from Magnus' arms to allow him the space to back up, the tears just streaming down his face when he doubled over.

"I fucking love you." Magnus went in for the kiss, to show his love.

Alec laughed into the kiss and started pulling again, getting them closer to the bed.

Magnus pulled back first, "I trust you." He smirked, "Malec definitely is happening."

"Oh thank god." Alec pulled on Magnus hard to get them kissing again, walking them back until his knees hit the bed and he stopped.

Magnus already had his shirt up and pulled himself back before to take it off, soon he was running his hands on Alec's stomach to do the same but Alec was ahead of him and Magnus' hands just had abs to play with. He used a finger to trace around his abs as Alec rubbed his hands; their mouths were so close together. Their breathing coming in short bursts inner mixing. Time stood frozen between them.

"Magnus," Alec whispered after a minute of just staring at him, "I want you in me."

"Fuck." Magus pulled himself out of being frozen and went to work on his pants then stopped, "Where's my bag?" Alec nodded towards the door, "Take your pants off." He ordered with a kiss before going for his bag.

Alec smirked and did as he was told, his pants and socks came off but he left his boxers.

Magnus turned around with the box of condoms and bottle of lube with a frown, "You're still dressed?"

"Technically, you just said pants." Alec smirked, "You take the boxers off."

He nodded with a smile, "Okay." He went back to the bed where Alec was standing, "Turn around and face the bed." He ripped open the box and took a single condom out before throwing the box behind him, landing somewhere near his bag. "Hold this." Magnus press the condom and lube to Alec's chest, he waited for him to have a solid grip on the items before letting go. He ran his hand down his chest to Alec's abs; he traced a few of them again before venturing lower. Magnus was quickly losing control of his breathing as he moved the top of his boxers to slip a hand inside; Alec was standing at attention and waiting for him, a slight laugh slipped from Magnus' lips. He small hitch in his laugh cause Alec's cock to jump a little.

Magnus couldn't wait any longer, he was already hard and Alec was hard for him. He went down to his knees while making quick work of Alec's boxers. He helped him step out of them, running his hands along Alec's muscled legs. Magnus couldn't stand it any longer and stood up, undoing his pants and removing them just enough to get his cock in hand; his pulse was pumping in his hands. He stroked himself a few times, giving himself a mental pep talk at the same time. He needed to calm himself down, or he wouldn't make it long. This would be their first time together since Alec's scare and he wanted to be good to him, Magnus wanted this to be something pleasurable for Alec to remember and coming in his hands before anything started would not be pleasurable.

Alec twisted his arm to hold out the contents Magnus would need, "Please."

"Yes," Magnus took the condom first, putting it on and holding it with one hand while taking the lube next. "Bend over the bed." He popped the top of the lube off with his thumb and poured some on his condom covered cock to work his hand better, then a little move right onto Alec's hole. He recapped the bottle and it ended on the floor next to his feet. He used a finger to quickly spread the lube around and inside Alec. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, please." Alec twisted his head to look at Magnus, "Please."

Magnus nodded, meeting Alec's eyes, he added a second finger; grinning at the pleasure crossing Alec's face. "Fuck." He hadn't done anything yet and he was hard as a rock, neither were going to last long. "Alec, I need you to jerk yourself, I'm too turned on not to come fast."

Alec nodded with understanding; he spits into his hand to help with the friction. "Stop talking now." He couldn't get his breathing under control; Alec was matching Magnus short breath for short chaotic breath. He was just as hard as Magnus; he couldn't wait anymore. His hand felt like fire, the heat surging his pleasure on.

Magnus took that was his approval and removed his fingers, he used his hand to help guide himself in at a slow pace but Alec rocked his hips back and took more of him then Magnus was expecting. He groaned from the pleasure and found himself pushing forward, removing his hand, and going into the hilt. He put both hands on Alec's hips to give him traction. He couldn't hold back, the groans and moans coming from Alec were spurring him on beyond the point of return. The feelings surging in him, around him at finally being with Alec again were going to be his undoing. He forgot how tight Alec hugged him when he was in him. The pressure of his hands on Alec's hips egging them back on to the finish line. He bit his lip to keep quiet but then remembered there were no children to hold him back, he released his lip with a groan and grunted with each deep thrust. He needed to come; it was now border lining on painful. He didn't have to wait for long; Alec was already going over the edge. Magnus pulled out and removed the condom. Alec turned around to face him, dragging Magnus' lips to his. He came then, on his hand and his stomach.

"Fuck," Magnus repeated the word over and over and over again against Alec's open lips.

Alec wrapped his arms around Magnus' neck, locking them together and trapped them tight together. Both were slick with sweat and cum. Neither had control over their breathing.

"Fuck," Alec repeated with him. He locked his eyes on Magnus', "Let's shower and do this again."

Magnus nodded with a laugh, "Yes." They could barely breathe but Alec wanted more so Magnus was going to give him more. "I need to take my pants off."

Alec looked down, noticing for the first time that Magnus was still completely dressed below the waist. "Damn." He laughed when he met Magnus' eyes again. "I'll start the shower." He kissed him then padded off towards the massive walk-in shower that was waiting for them. "You get naked."

Magnus made quick work of the rest of clothes and disposed of the condom before joining Alec for a shower.

…

Alec laid back on Magnus' chest, panting and slick with sweat. Magnus' hands were still gripping his hips; he moved his hips excited at the loud groan Magnus let out. Alec smiled up at the ceiling in love with the noises Magnus was giving him.

Their shower was hours ago and the pizza had yet to be made. Alec made them some quick sandwiches which they ate on the couch in their boxers, talking the whole time. They called the kids surprised to hear they had been perfect angels even to Simon. Alec wasn't really surprised, but he was pleased. They were growing up and he was happy with the thought that he could begin to leave them more and more, he wanted to have adult time with Magnus even if it was for a dinner date. He had a support system and he had learned that real well over the last few months.

Alec barely got their plates onto the coffee table when Magnus was pulling him into a deep kiss, telling him they needed to go to the bedroom again. Their walk was quick as was the removal of their boxers. Magnus laid back on the bed and Alec kissed his way up his chest. When Alec got on his knees to straddle Magnus' legs, Magnus used his hands to twist him at the waist, telling him to turn around and face the door. Alec did as he was told, then Magnus told him to sit up a bit them guiding him back down. Magnus used both hands on Alec's hips to guide him up and down, gripping so tightly he was going to leave marks.

They started slow but Alec and Magnus couldn't last that way, they built their speed but it became too much for Alec to stay up and he laid back on his chest.

Alec groaned at the change of angle but kept up his speed, it was such an awkward angle, but he couldn't stop. He didn't want to stop. Magnus help with thrusting of his own, still gripping Alec's hips. Alec was using one hand to jerk himself and the other gripping Magnus' hand tightly.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Magnus groundout. Alec had been riding him for ten minutes and he was at the edge. "Alec-"

Alec sped up his hand; he knew that tone in Magnus' voice, that pitch; he was close. Magnus was very close and Alec wanted him to come. Alec shifted his legs to lean up again, but this time he went a little far forward, using one hand to brace himself on the bed while his other continued the fast jerking. Both sped up their place and Magnus climaxed so hard he dug his nails on Alec's sides. The pain shot up insides and down straight to his cock and he came.

Alec couldn't stay up any longer and went backward again to laying on Magnus. Panting for breath, sucking in as much air as he could. Magnus released his hips but wrapped his arms around Alec, keeping him in place. Alec finished a few more jerks, spilling more of himself on his own stomach. Magnus slipped out of Alec, dripping as he went.

"Jesus, Magnus."

"That was hot."

Alec laughed and twisted a little to lay on the bed, tucking himself in Magnus' side. "Happy Anniversary, Magnus."

Magnus just grinned, half asleep from being up for almost twenty-four hours. "Same to you, babe." He twisted slightly to hug Alec to him. They were drifting off them, Alec relaxed into the sound of Magnus' even breathing and slowly the world went dark.

…

It was Saturday night and Alec was finally getting around to opening his bag, he was only doing it because he remembered the gift he got for Magnus. He pulled out a brown bag with a red bow wrapped at the top; anyone would know there was either wine or some sort of liquor in the bag, "Here, I got you something." He smirked at his fiancée, "I wanted to give it to you last night but I was distracted and forgot. So here."

Magnus burrowed his face, "Really? We said no gifts." he took the bow off and threw the brown bag on the floor. "Damn, a bottle of Angostura." He sent his boyfriend a questions glance, "Expensive rum?"

"Yeah, someone-" Alec moved up to Magnus, putting his hands around his fiancée's neck, trapping the bottle between them, "-once told about how nice it is to take body shots with rum during sex. The wine was good but the rum just sounds sexy."

Magnus threw his head back in laughter, "Oh my god," He couldn't hold his laughter back, "This is amazing." He held up the bottle with massive grin.

"You have to tell me." Alec put a hand on the bottle to get Magnus to look at him. "You say you don't hate beer but you'll only drink it from the glass bottles and only after I take a drink first. Why?"

He laughed a little, "Nothing that great. It's ju-" He stopped, going shy with his thoughts.

"Tell me." Alec continued to move a thumb along Magnus' neck, creating small circles, "Tell me." He drug out of the words to sound more like a whine, his voice low.

"I don't hate beer but I'm not a huge fan of it either, I do think it taste better in the bottle and not the cans. But there is this thing. This super sexy thing, that just turns me on knowing I can drink your beer."

"What?" Alec laughed, he didn't really understand.

Magnus tipped his head all the back then to the side to trap Alec's hand, "It's just sexy to me to drink your beer. I think its sexy to know that I have the right as your man to steal your beer and drink from your bottle. No one else has the right to drink from the same bottle but me. I can't explain it better than that. It's my thing and I'm not going to stop it any time soon. It is a complete turn on." He straightened himself back up, a permanent smile on his face, "Happy Anniversary." Magnus pulled back with a glint in his eye, "Now, get naked."

"Always so demanding with my clothing."

"Yes, yes, now get on with it." Magnus took the top off the bottle of rum and took a quick drink with a massive grin on his face, "This is fantastic."

Alec grinned at him, "Magnus, I love you."

"I love you too, Alexander." Magnus took another drink and kissed Alec, to share his rum. Alec pulled back swallowing.

This was the prelude to the rest of their evening.

 **.The End.**

 **Author's Note:** There is it! The end of this one. I was hell bent on this being a trilogy… but… I have this insane need to show Alec and Magnus mending their relationship in everyday life … which didn't fit in this story. So I wrote another one. It's close to final edits. -BM


End file.
